• Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns wrap up their five-game road swing this week with back-to-back contests against Southland Conference members Lamar and Southeastern Louisiana. The Cajuns (20-19) first travel to Beaumont, Texas, to face the Cardinals on Tuesday before going to Hammond to take on the SLU Lions Wednesday.

• The Cajuns own a pair of low-scoring home victories over both Lamar and SLU. In March, Louisiana used a brilliant debut pitching performance from Michael Cook to solidify a 3-1 win. On April Fool’s Day, the Cajuns needed a squeeze bunt in the ninth inning to prevail 3-2 over Lamar.

• Louisiana is 6-2 this season against Southland Conference members and has won 17 of the last 20 meetings. In all, the Cajuns are 30-10 against the SLC in the last 40 games.

• Sophomore closer Justin Robichaux needs one more save to tie the school’s single-season record for saves which is currently held by Aaron Welbourne (8).

• Half of Louisiana’s 34 homers this season have come in the month of April. Eleven (11) of the 17 April homers have been hit on the road.

SECOND CHANCE. Last season, Louisiana’s dreams of winning the Sun Belt Tournament were dashed in the championship game at South Alabama’s Stanky Field. Last weekend, however, the Cajuns left Mobile victorious claiming the three-game Sun Belt series with an 8-6 win in Sunday’s rubber game. Sunday’s win marked just the second time that the Cajuns won a Sun Belt Conference series at South Alabama and the first since 2000. The win improved Louisiana to 12-34 all-time against the Jaguars at Stanky Field.

WELCOME BACK. Sophomore reliever Justin Robichaux was masterful in his return to the mound tossing 1 1/3 innings of perfect relief in Sunday’s 8-6 win at South Alabama. Robichaux (1-0) struck out two of the final four Jaguars to seal his first win of the season.

ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE, SIX. During Louisiana’s Sun Belt series win in Mobile last weekend, starting pitchers Hunter Moody and Danny Farquhar were tagged for six solo home runs. Five of the six solo shots were lead-off homers. In fact, South Alabama’s first six runs of the series were via solo home runs. Thirteen (13) of the Cajuns’ 32 home runs allowed have been solo shots. Twelve (12) of the last 13 home runs allowed have been in Sun Belt play.

THREE’S COMPANY. UL starting pitchers Hunter Moody and Danny Farquhar were each touched for three solo home runs in their respective starts at South Alabama last weekend - both were career highs.

WELL-BALANCED OFFENSIVE. Eight of Louisiana’s nine batters registered a hit, while six more drove in at least one run as the Cajuns pummeled South Alabama 9-3 Friday night in the series opener. Four different Ragin’ Cajuns recorded two hits – Nolan Gisclair, Scott Hawkins, Chance Harst and Jordan Poirrier. Matt Hicks added a three-run bomb in the sixth.

WAY TO GET ON. As a team, the Cajuns recorded 33 hits last weekend at South Alabama which are the second-most this season by Louisiana against a SBC opponent (behind season-high 35 at UALR). Louisiana’s 9-1-2-3 hitters batted .373 (19-for-51) on the weekend, while its 4-5-6-7-8 hitters went just .230 (14-for-61). Conversely, the Cajuns’ 4-8 hitters accounted for nine of the 15 RBI for the weekend.

LEFTY DOMINATION. Last season in the conference tournament, southpaw Brent Solich pitched a three-hit, complete-game shutout of host South Alabama to advance to the league championship game. That performance carried over to last Saturday at South Alabama when the senior held the Jaguars off the scoreboard for another 2 1/3 innings before they could finally score.

HELPING HAND. Matt Hicks and William Long benefited the most from the Cajuns’ series win at South Alabama over the weekend in Mobile. Hicks paced the Cajuns with a series-best .429 batting average (6-for-14), finishing with a career-high four hits Sunday. Long hit .364 (4-for-11) with a solo home run in the rubber game victory.

EARLY SEASON DROUGHT BRINGS APRIL HOMERS. Half of the Ragin’ Cajuns’ 34 home runs have come in April as UL has hit 17 in the last 21 days (14 games). The Cajuns hit 17 home runs in February and March combined (25 games).


C WHAT? Through the season’s first 36 games, the Cajuns were called for only once catcher’s interference. However, in Friday night’s series opener at USA, UL was called for a pair of interferences which are officially recorded as errors. Junior catcher Blaine LaFleur is responsible for all three catcher’s inference calls this season.

ROBICHAUX NAMED TO NCBWA STOPPER OF THE YEAR WATCH LIST. Justin Robichaux was one of 45 relief pitchers named to the midseason watch list for the fourth annual NCBWA Stopper of the Year Award. The award is given to the top relief pitcher in Division I college baseball. Robichaux, who had been sidelined for more than two weeks because of injury, leads the Ragin’ Cajuns staff with seven saves along with a 2.70 ERA in 14 appearances. Robichaux’s seven saves are the second-highest single-season total in program history. The crafty sophomore needs two more to supplant Aaron Welbourne (8) as the single-season record holder. The midseason watch list includes four players with double-figure saves totals through April 15.

LAMAR SCOUTING REPORT. Lamar (23-16) has won three of its last four games after dropping five straight decisions. The Cardinals, which have won 15 games at home this season, are just 8-9 away from Beaumont. Sunday, Lamar scored three runs in the top of the 12th inning to defeat Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and clinch the series in Robstown, Texas. It was Lamar’s longest game since a 12-inning win against Louisiana Tech in 2005. Travis Dunson leads the Cardinals with a .347 batting clip along with two homers and 25 RBI. Steven Tucker leads Lamar in hits (50), doubles (10), homers (3), RBI (36) and stolen bases (14). Tim Erickson paces the Lamar staff with a 4-1 record, 2.41 ERA and seven saves. Matt Gore, through 13 2/3 innings, has a microscopis 0.66 ERA in 11 chances.

LAMAR SERIES. Lamar leads the all-time series 70-61-1, but lost both of last season’s meetings. In the first meeting of 2007, the Cajuns scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth to escape with a 5-4 victory over Lamar. The Cajuns followed with a 3-1 win at Lamar. Brent Solich earned the win, tossing seven innings, while allowing just one unearned run on five hits. Historically, Louisiana has been more successful at home than in Beaumont in the series. The Cajuns are 39-25-1 in 65 series meetings at home. Tony Robichaux is 4-10 all-time at Vincent-Beck Stadium with the Cajuns. Last season’s win at Lamar snapped a three-game losing streak in Beaumont.

SOUTHEASTERN LA. SCOUTING REPORT. Southeastern Louisiana (19-18) has lost three of its last five, including two of three at Texas-Arlington. Like Lamar, SLU has done better at home than on the road as the Lions are 12-9 this season at Alumni Field. Ty Summerlin leads with a .329 batting average, 12 doubles, five home runs and 35 RBI. Cass Hargis is second in average, hits, doubles and RBI.

SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA SERIES. Louisiana leads the all-time series 57-37, including a 3-1 win earlier this season. The Cajuns have won the last six meetings and 15 of the last 17. In this year’s earlier meeting, freshman Michael Cook was stellar in his first career start. Cook worked 7-plus innings, scattering five hits - four singles. The Cajuns are just 15-11 all-time in Hammond.

UP NEXT - TROY. Following this week’s two non-conference road match-ups with Southland foes, Louisiana returns to "The Tigue" to host the Troy Trojans for a three-game Sun Belt series.

SATURDAY’S GAME WITH TROY FIRST OF TWO CST BROADCASTS FOR CAJUNS. Saturday’s home contest with the Troy Trojans will be the first of two Cajuns game broadcast live on CST. Lyn Rollins will provide the play-by-play, while Ronnie Rantz will serve as the color analyst. Sunday’s game will be aired live on my KLAF-TV with Chris Mycoskie (PxP) and Dan McDonald (Color).


RaginCajuns.com

Chris Yandle