A .500 Season Who'da Thunk It?

[Turbine]

As of today Louisiana's record is 17-25. So can Louisiana go 11-3 the rest of the way and finsh the regular season with a .500 record?

It will be tough with 10 road games and 4 home games.

at New Orleans W
at New Orleans W
at New Orleans W
at Southeastern W
at Nebraska W
at Nebraska L
at Nebraska
NICHOLLS STATE
at Arkansas State
at Arkansas State
at Arkansas State
SOUTH ALABAMA
SOUTH ALABAMA
SOUTH ALABAMA

[1stTake]

I would love to go 11-3 but it isn't likely. I would take 9-5 and a winning 4 in conference tournament. Then they would be going into regionals with a .500 record.

[Turbine]

As of today Louisiana's record is 20-25. So can Louisiana go 8-3 the rest of the way and finsh the regular season with a .500 record?

It will be tough with 7 road games and 4 home games.

at Southeastern
at Nebraska
at Nebraska
at Nebraska
NICHOLLS STATE
at Arkansas State
at Arkansas State
at Arkansas State
SOUTH ALABAMA
SOUTH ALABAMA
SOUTH ALABAMA

[Turbine]

As of today Louisiana's record is 22-26. So can Louisiana go 6-2 the rest of the way and finsh the regular season with a .500 record?

It will be tough, there are 4 road games and 4 home games.

at Nebraska
NICHOLLS STATE
at Arkansas State
at Arkansas State
at Arkansas State
SOUTH ALABAMA
SOUTH ALABAMA
SOUTH ALABAMA

[NewsCopy]

#23 JAGUARS RALLY FROM 5-0 DEFICIT TO WIN 12TH TITLE

LAFAYETTE, La. - No. 23 South Alabama rallied from a 5-0 deficit and held off Louisiana-Lafayette, 7-6, to win its record third consecutive Sun Belt Conference baseball regular season championship in front of 3,466 fans at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field Saturday afternoon.

The Jaguars won their record 12th Sun Belt championship and earned the No. 1 seed in next week's Sun Belt Tournament, which begins Wednesday in Lafayette. USA extended its winning streak to seven games while improving to 39-14 overall and 17-6 in the conference. Louisiana-Lafayette dropped to 27-28 and 14-9. The two teams conclude the season-ending series Sunday at 1 p.m.

The game ended in controversy as Louisiana-Lafayette argued a close call in the bottom of the ninth. ULL put the winning runs on base with back-to-back one-out walks by Jag closer Tony Neal. Ragin Cajun-leading hitter Corey Coles came to the plate and sent a blooper over the head of third baseman Kevin Sytko that sailed inches foul of the third base foul line. ULL coaches argued that the ball was fair with third base umpire Ray Miller and homeplate official Phil Gonzalez, but to no avail. Neal then forced Coles to ground into a double-play to end the game.

"It was a huge win. It was a game of inches and a very close call at the end," said 20th-year Jag coach Steve Kittrell, who won an unprecedented ninth SBC title since 1984. "It's a game of inches and we got the break. I thought our guys played well.

"Caleb Crosby was the big difference in the ball game," Kittrell continued. "He came in and really changed the momentum. He gave us a chance to battle back."

ULL plated a run in the first and four more in the second off Jag starter Frank Elia to jump out to a 5-0 advantage. The Jags plated single runs in the third and fourth innings before the Ragin Cajuns scored again to post a 6-2 lead. Jason Gross lined a pinch-hit single up the middle to score T.J. Touchstone and Cole Craig as the Jags sliced the deficit to 6-4 in the fifth inning.

In the seventh, Tim Land pulled the Jags to within one with a run-scoring single and Brett Parker knocked in the eventual game-winning runs with a double to the left-center field wall. The hit was Parker's 20th straight game with a base hit, third-best in team history.

After retiring the side in the seventh and eighth innings, USA went to its closer Neal in the ninth. He struck out Jason Wilson for the first out before issuing consecutive walks to the number nine and lead-off hitters. Coles, who doubled and tripled earlier in the inning, hit into the game-ending double play.

Jason Gross came off the bench to record three of USA's 11 hits. Land and Kevin Sytko added two hits apiece.

Crosby, in just his second relief outing of the year, limited the Ragin Cajuns to just three hits in six innings. He allowed a fourth-inning run before retiring 12 of his final 14 batters. The senior from Jackson, Ala., improved to 4-3 on the season and earned his second straight win. Neal picked up his eighth save of the season with the scoreless ninth.

"It felt good getting back out (on the mound)," Crosby said. "All of my pitches were working today. My off-speed pitches were really working well."

ULL reliever Thad Montgomery (1-1) suffered the loss as he allowed one run on three hits in two-thirds of an inning.

The rest of the story

CONTACT: Matt Smith

[Turbine]

Louisiana hit .500 and is 29-29 and if they beat UALR in the losers bracket they will guarantee an .500 season or better if they can continue winning.

[Turbine]

Louisiana WINS 6-1 over UALR

A .500 season is guaranteed.

But there is more . . .