After Climbing to 5th Ragin' Cajuns Fall to 7th

[NewsCopy]

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Needing a victory to move one win closer to a spot in the conference tournament, Louisiana was denied for the second time in two days by Western Kentucky following a 13-4 loss to the Hilltoppers Sunday afternoon. Louisiana’s (25-27, 13-14 Sun Belt) magic number to clinch a berth in the Sun Belt Conference Baseball Championship remains at two after FIU’s 7-4 win over South Alabama. The Cajuns remain one-half game ahead of Middle Tennessee (12-14) for seventh place in the league standings. Western Kentucky (27-23, 14-13 Sun Belt), however, still needs one more win or FIU loss to clinch a spot in the tournament. Ragin’ Cajuns pitchers were responsible for Western’s 18 hits. Brent Solich’s (Lakewood Ranch, Fla.) return to the Sunday starting role was a frustrating one for the senior, allowing six runs on six hits with four strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings. Neither Solich (2-5) nor Buddy Glass (Clermont, Fla.) fared well against WKU hitters. Glass was shelled for five ground ball singles, but only charged for two runs in two-thirds of an inning. WKU’s Bart Carter (5-4) earned the victory, allowing four runs on four hits with five strikeouts in five innings. All nine WKU hitters in the lineup recorded at least one hit, while three players finishing with three hits – Terrence Dayleg, Wade Gaynor and Jeremy Coleman. Carter fell behind all but one Cajun in the first inning as Louisiana took an early 1-0 lead. Brian Bowman (Lafayette, La.) opened the game with a lead-off double into the left-center gap. After a Josh Logan (Magee, Miss.) walk, the runners moved to second and third following Matt Goulas’ (New Iberia, La.) sacrifice bunt. Scott Hawkins (Collierville, Tenn.) then plated the go-ahead run with a RBI sacrifice fly to center that scored Bowman for a 1-0 lead. WKU left the bases loaded at the end of the first inning but not before the Toppers did enough damage to take a 2-1 lead. Solich struck out the first batter he faced, but walked Matt Hightower and gave up a one-out double to Dayleg. Two batters later, a RBI bunt single by Gaynor scored the tying run. A wild pitch by Solich allowed the go-ahead run to score to give WKU a 2-1 lead. Solich walked two more batters in the first inning, but were left stranded after Matt Payton grounded out to end the frame. The Cajuns weren’t down for long, responding with a two-run second inning to take a 3-2 lead. William Long’s (Valrico, Fla.) one-out RBI double scored Matt Hicks (Houston, Texas) to equal the score at 2-2. Two batters later, Logan ripped an infield RBI single scored the go-ahead run in Blaine LaFleur (Opelousas, La.) for a 3-2 Cajuns lead. Not satisfied with two runs in the second inning, the double-steal was on as the Cajuns were looking to put a comfortable separation between them and WKU. However, the double-steal attempt was not successful when Long was tagged out at home to end the inning. WKU evened the score in the second, 3-3. Dayleg drilled his second double in as many at bats – this time a RBI double that fell in the right-center gap to plate the tying run. A pair of acrobatic catches by Goulas in right field while fighting the swirling winds aided Solich in keeping Western Kentucky off the scoreboard in the third and preserved the Cajuns’ 4-3 lead. At the end of three innings, each team recorded four hits. WKU would then out-hit the Cajuns 14-2 in the final five-plus innings. Four runs scored by Western Kentucky in the fourth gave the Toppers their largest lead of the day, 7-4. Solich got the hook midway through the WKU fourth inning after surrendering the tying run. Solich was charged with two more runs following his departure on a Glass wild pitch and successive RBI single. Coleman’s RBI single to left field capped off the Toppers’ four-run frame which gave WKU a 7-4 lead. After Glass loaded the bases without an out, Danny Farquhar (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) came in to do damage control in the fifth. Farquhar retired all three batters he faced, but the Toppers still came away with a run for an 8-4 lead after five innings. WKU added insurance runs in both the sixth and eighth innings for the final 13-4 count. Louisiana enters the final stretch of the regular season this week when the Ragin’ Cajuns host the New Orleans Privateers for Senior Weekend at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field. The series will begin on Thursday, May 15 at 6:30 p.m. RaginCajuns.com Chris Yandle

[CrazyCajun]

SO HOW MANY DO WE HAVE TO WIN THIS WEEKEND TO SECURE A SPOT IN THE TOURNAMENT?

[cjntgr]

From what I understand, our chances of getting in are really good. If we get swept by UNO, FAU and MT must both win 2/3 for us to get left out. If we win a game against UNO, both must sweep for us NOT to get in. If we win 2 games, we are in no matter what.

[J-Town Cajun]

_ From what I understand, our chances of getting in are really good. If we get swept by UNO, FAU and MT must both win 2/3 for us to get left out. If we win a game against UNO, both must sweep for us NOT to get in. If we win 2 games, we are in no matter what. _

Yep!

[cajundiehard]

_ From what I understand, our chances of getting in are really good. If we get swept by UNO, FAU and MT must both win 2/3 for us to get left out. If we win a game against UNO, both must sweep for us NOT to get in. If we win 2 games, we are in no matter what. _

Actually if we are swept by UNO, we are left out if FIU wins at least 2/3 at home vs. FAU AND if MT wins at least 1/3 at WKU. If we are swept by UNO and one or the other happens we would back into an 8th seed...

Explanation: We are in 7th... only .5 games ahead of (8) MT... so they need one more win than us this weekend to pass us... (9) FIU is 2 games back of us but would win the tie-breaker by virtue of taking 2/3 at the Tigue earlier in the year... so they would need 2 wins to tie the Cajuns if the Cajuns or swept... or 3 wins to tie the Cajuns if the Cajuns can only get 1/3.

It is certainly not a done deal that the Cajuns are in.... Cajuns just need to take care of business...

BTW, NOT a good sign that we are talking about getting swept by UNO. This shouldn't be a possibility...

[J-Town Cajun]

I am hoping for a series rainout in either Lafayette, Bowling Green, or Miami.
What are the chances?

[CajunRage]

I know a fan should never wish for this, but it might be better for this team to be watching the tourney from the stands. This team is not winning anything this year. A very unlikely win of the conference tourney and a decent showing(1-2 wins) in a regional would cover up how bad a season this was. It has been an all time low for our baseball program. Adjustments need to be made.

I did some research on the team since Szefc's hire, and our hitting coach/recruiter has not really done anything to improve this team. Szefc started in 2003, which means you can't truly link him to statistics until at least 2005. Since 2005, our percentage of K's/AB and LOB/Total Baserunners have both increased (16% to 23% and 50% to 62%, respectively). With the exception of 2007, our BA and SLG% have progressively gone down (.327 to .239 and .495 to .373, respectively). That's not improvement if you ask me.

On the lighter side, go back to the old uni's and hats. The new ones are jinx! But hey, baseball players aren't superstitious, right?

[Dad04]

However likely or unlikely, 1 or 2 regional wins would not be considered a bad season unless a team was a 1-5 or 6 national seed. If you want to blame coaches for this season, you have to give them credit for the 2007 season.

[CajunRage]

However likely or unlikely, 1 or 2 regional wins would not be considered a bad season unless a team was a 1-5 or 6 national seed. If you want to blame coaches for this season, you have to give them credit for the 2007 season.

I said that 1 or 2 wins would cover up a bad season.

I am not blaming coaches for this season. I am opening people's eyes that Szefc has not done as much for this team as everyone thinks. Getting powers hitters into the program is great, but not at the expense of fundamental baseball. Not putting the ball in play and leaving runners on base is not fundamental baseball. We have way too many strikeouts with runners in scoring position.

[Turner]

Getting powers hitters into the program is great, but not at the expense of fundamental baseball. Not putting the ball in play and leaving runners on base is not fundamental baseball. We have way too many strikeouts with runners in scoring position. _

A result of recruiting power hitters and asking them to bunt. It goes against their nature and ruins everthing the did well in highschool.

[CajunRage]

A result of recruiting power hitters and asking them to bunt. It goes against their nature and ruins everthing the did well in highschool.

If they can't bunt, they don't deserve to be on the field. We should be recruiting good baseball players who can execute every aspect of the game. A lot of good a power hitter who can't bunt is against a stiff wind, runners on 1st and 2nd, no outs, and down 1 run.

[Dad04]

Who went on the road and found Lucroy, Farquhar, Hick, Laughter, Hawkins, Solich, Glass, Benzel, Gisclair, Fernandez, Beck, Van DeKerre, Logan, Alexander, Casbon, Hatfield, etc? The list is long. They didn't just show up one day. This has been a year of rebuilding and replacing some key parts of the puzzle with younger players. Actually we have bunted better this year than in the recent past.

[Turbine]

I have seen some really good bunts this year.

It is the hit after the sacrifice that has been slim pickens.

jmo

[CajunRage]

I have seen some really good bunts this year.

It is the hit after the sacrifice that has been slim pickens.

jmo

I guess my point is that everyone wants us to get rid of small ball and start playing guerrilla ball, and that's not the right direction to go. Yes, we need to be able to put on a hitting clinic against sunbelt pitching, but when we get to the postseason and are facing #1 draft picks from Rice, we need to be able to execute the little things. Good pitching always beats good hitting. You overcome that by manufacturing runs, not waiting for the long ball.

[Dad04]

_ I have seen some really good bunts this year.

It is the hit after the sacrifice that has been slim pickens.

jmo _

A very good point. We have moved and stranded alot of runners. How good were Lucroy, Tatford and others, knocking guys in?

Baseball is baseball. Good pitching beats good hitting, if you hit, throw and catch the ball yourself.