loUiSiAna vs USA
• One of the most heated Sun Belt rivalries in recent memory will commence this weekend when the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns visit the South Alabama Jaguars for a three-game series at Stanky Field.
• Seven of Louisiana’s 10 wins at South Alabama have come since the 2000 season.
• The Cajuns are 9-19 at South Alabama under Robichaux including two in last year’s SBC Baseball Championship.
• Louisiana (18-18), which snapped a three-game skid with a 4-3 win Wednesday, has won the last six meetings in the series once dominated by the Jaguars.
• Wednesday, Tony Robichaux recorded his 500th victory as Ragin’ Cajuns head coach. Robichaux needs six more wins to become the 33rd activie NCAA Division I coach with 750 career victories.
• Junior All-American Scott Hawkins has exploded of late for a team-high .325 batting average. Hawkins leads the team in nearly every major offensive category including hits (39), doubles (8), home runs (9) and RBI (28).
500 DOWN...750 ON THE WAY. Louisiana’s Tony Robichaux became the first Cajuns baseball skipper to win 500 games as his club posted a 4-3 comeback win over Northwestern State for "Turn Back the Clock Night" at "The Tigue"...
Robichaux is now six away from becoming the 33rd active NCAA Division I coach to reach 750 career victories.
DEMON SLAYER. Wednesday, Nolan Gisclair provided a second blow to the Northwestern State Demons as he blooped in the game-winning run in a 4-3 victory. Last week, the senior pummeled two home runs for a 9-2 route of the Demons at "The Tigue"...
Gisclair finished the four-game season series with a .400 clip, two home runs and five RBI while slugging 1.000.
LOGAN LONGING FOR CONFERENCE PLAY. Josh Logan concluded a rough four-game stretch against the Northwestern Demons on Wednesday as the senior finished 0-for-12...
However, Logan is batting just .147 (5-for-34) in his last 10 games. During that span, Logan’s batting clip has dropped 44 points to .254.
MIDWEEK IMPRESSIONS. Junior Matt Broussard tossed a season-high seven innings despite pitching to a no-decision against the Demons. Broussard’s seven innings are a season high by a Cajuns midweek starter, tying Michael Cook who threw seven against SLU on March 5 and his previous outing against the Demons last week on April 8.
CAJUNS FALL IN NINTH AT NORTHWESTERN. Justin O’Neal’s two-RBI single through the right side gave the Northwestern State Demons a 3-2 come-from-behind Tuesday night at Brown-Stroud Field...
Buddy Glass suffered the loss, allowing two runs on three hits in 1 1/3 innings. In his first career start on the bump, junior Luke Wagley allowed one run on seven hits in 5 2/3 innings. Wagley struck out four batters in the no-decision.
ROUGH STRETCH. Louisiana entered last weekend against first-place ULM as the SBC leader in team ERA...
However, the Ragin’ Cajuns’ pitching staff ERA saw a 69-point increase from 4.61 to 5.30. In three games, the Cajuns ERA was 12.33 against ULM.
JACK OF ALL TRADES. Sophomore utility player Chance Harst has started at four different positions this season for the Cajuns. Harst, a catcher by trade, has also started in left field and at designated hitter. Then, two weekends ago at MT, Harst was thrust into playing first base for the injured Justin Robichaux.
HAMMERING AWAY. Junior All-American Scott Hawkins has come on strong as of late hitting four home runs in the last 10 games...
Hawkins’ solo shot Wednesday at McNeese State moved him into fifth place on the school’s career home run list surpassing Dallas Morris (29). Hawkins is one of only five Cajuns in school history to hit 30 or more home runs in a career...
Hawkins (31) needs two more to tie David Alvis (33) for fourth all-time. He trails leader Ron Robicheaux (39) by eight homers.
SOUTH ALABAMA SCOUTING REPORT. Fourth-place South Alabama (21-16) has won their last three games including two over the UALR Trojans in Little Rock...
In their last SBC series at home, the Jaguars dropped a slug fest to Florida Atlantic. USA won the opener 14-3 before FAU won 13-9 and 9-4...
The Jaguars are batting .303 as a team, but opponents are hitting at a .309 clip. Ray Kruml is one of six USA hitters batting better than .300, leading the team with a .371 average. Ryne Jernigan leads the Jaguars with a team-high 10 home runs and 46 RBI.
SOUTH ALABAMA SERIES. This heated Sun Belt series once dominated by the South Alabama Jaguars has been owned by Louisiana in the last two seasons...
Although USA leads the all-time series 46-28, UL has won the last six meetings, including all five in 2007...
The Cajuns are 10-33 all-time in Mobile and had lost the first eight meetings and 24 of the first 25 at USA...
At one point in the series, South Alabama won 17 straight games from 1992-97.
UP NEXT - LAMAR/SLU. Louisiana continues its five-game road trip with back-to-back midweek games at SLC foes Lamar (Tuesday) and Southeastern Louisiana (Wednesday)...Wednesday’s game at SLU is a rescheduled meeting from April 2.
RaginCajuns.com
Chris Yandle
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