The Book: 2004 Baseball

[NewsCopy]

LOUISIANA Là - They’re not officially in first place in the Sun Belt Conference baseball standings, but nobody else in the league wants any part of Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns right now.

The rest of the conference woke up today to two more lopsided scores posted by the Cajuns in a surprisingly easy sweep of New Mexico State. In a 28-hour series compressed by weather threats, the hosts outscored the visiting Aggies by a convincing 33-10 after the teams entered the weekend all square in the league race.

Tony Robichaux’s squad has won 13 of its last 16 and has won its first three Sun Belt series. More importantly, the Cajuns have assumed an air of confidence, and it wasn’t just because the Easter bunny was walking around theField carrying a broom Saturday.

These guys expect to win. They expect to out-hit, out-pitch, out-defend, out-run and generally out-play whoever is wearing the other jerseys.

The most impressive thing is that they’re winning games a lot of different ways. A team that graduated some of its best arms has become solid on the mound. At the halfway point of the season, they already have more home runs and more stolen bases than they had all of last year. In 2003 the squad had 10 errorless games, and they have 15 this year.

The Cajuns have in one year gone from the Sun Belt’s worst hitting team to the league’s best. Average wise, admittedly, they’re second behind NMSU, but this weekend’s series showed in dramatic fashion how much the Aggies’ numbers are skewed by their launching pad of a home park.

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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com

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Ragin' Cajuns roll to sweep

LOUISIANA Là — UL’s baseball team can’t even be stopped by Mother Nature, so what chance do common mortals have?

Especially when the Ragin’ Cajuns pound out 13 extra base hits, make all the defensive plays and get solid pitching for 18 innings.

The Cajuns and New Mexico State rolled their Sun Belt Conference weekend series back to a Saturday doubleheader in deference to expected rain today, but it was the Cajun squad that rained all over the visiting Aggies with 13-4 and 9-5 victories that gave UL Lafayette its first league sweep of the season.

“We challenged our guys to go from worriers to warriors this weekend,” said Cajun coach Tony Robichaux, “and they stepped up and got it done.”

Louisiana (22-9, 7-2 Sun Belt) added those victories to an 11-1 Friday win over an Aggie squad (24-12-1, 4-5) that entered the weekend tied with the Cajuns for third place in the Sun Belt race. The sweep, the first for the hosts since a road sweep of Arkansas State late last season, now has the Cajuns in first place nearing the halfway point of the conference season.

Ian Pecoraro and Jered Salazar had solid starting performances in picking up the two wins, but the Saturday sweep was all about offense. The Cajuns had six home runs, two triples and five doubles for the major part of a 24-hit attack against Aggie pitching.

“We had a hitter’s meeting Thursday,” said third baseman Dallas Morris, who had a home run in each game Saturday to give him 10 for the season. “We talked about what we needed to do, to give our pitchers some early leads and for us to get after their pitching.”

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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com

[Turbine]

Originally posted by GoneGolfin
Standings in the Sun Belt:

Louisiana 7-2
Florida International 6-3
South Alabama 4-2
New Orleans 4-2
Western Kentucky 4-4
New Mexico State 4-5
Middle Tennessee 4-5
Arkansas-Little Rock 1-5
Arkansas State 1-7

Pending the result of the Western Kentucky - Arkansas State game.

Brian

[cajunreality]

Hey "newscopy".......what does Louisiana La. stand for? I take it you mean Louisiana Lafayette!

[El Sidonio]

Does anybody happen to know how much tickets to Tues. away game at McNeese cost? I might be takin a little afternoon road trip.

God Bless.

[NewsCopy]

LAKE CHARLES — Now that Louisiana's baseball team is the front-runner in the Sun Belt Conference, the target is squarely on the backs of the Ragin’ Cajuns.

Winning — 13 victories in their last 16 games — has made the Cajuns a marked team, especially heading into tonight’s contest against a McNeese State team that has struggled mightily over the last three weeks.

The Cowboys, who host the Cajuns at 7 p.m. at Cowboy Diamond, have lost eight of their last 10 outings including three weekend losses to Lamar in Southland Conference play. McNeese has slipped to 16-19 overall and 4-8 in the Southland.

The Cowboys’ third straight league series loss is in direct contrast to the Cajuns, who have won three straight conference series including a sweep of New Mexico State Friday and Saturday at Moore Field. The Cajuns (22-9, 7-2) vaulted into first place in the league as the only team to sweep its series.

“I like where this team is right now,” said Cajun coach Tony Robichaux. “The most important thing is that we played with focus all weekend. We hadn’t done that in some games, but this weekend we did a good job of staying focused and doing the things we need to do.”

Keeping that focus shouldn’t be a problem tonight even with the Cowboys’ losing mark. McNeese took a pair of wins over the Cajuns in mid-week games last year (4-3 and 8-7), and the Cowboys have won six of the last seven meetings on their home field.

Focus certainly won’t be a problem for Robichaux, who is in a position that’s probably unique in all of college baseball tonight. Robichaux played at both schools during his collegiate career, and has served as head coach at both institutions.

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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com

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Junior duo lifts Cajuns to first place in Sun Belt Conference

LOUISIANA Là - Junior pitcher Kevin Ardoin and third baseman Dallas Morris were named the Sun Belt Conference Pitcher and Hitter of the Week, respectively, as announced Monday by the conference office.

It is third and fourth weekly award that Louisiana has received this season.

It was the first time this season that a school swept the pitcher and hitter awards in the same week.

It was also the first time since April 1, 2002, that the Cajuns had swept Sun Belt weekly honors. That week, Justin Gabriel and Bryan Sneed were tabbed Sun Belt Conference Pitcher and Hitter of the Week, respectively.

Ardoin (4-1) took the mound for the Cajuns Friday night and delivered a complete-game 11-1 victory over New Mexico State. Ardoin allowed one run, while scattering seven hits and striking out five Aggies. The Eunice, LA, native leads the team in strikeouts (57), earned run average (1.82), and innings pitched (64.1).

Morris continued his stellar season over the weekend, helping lead the Cajuns (22-9, 7-2) to a three-game sweep of New Mexico State and first place in the Sun Belt Conference. The Destin, Fla., native went 10-for-17 with three home runs and six RBIs for the week. Against New Mexico State, he went 6-for-12 with two home runs and four RBIs.

Morris now leads the team in batting average (.389), home runs (10), and RBIs (39).

On Wednesday night, Morris went 4-for-5, including a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth which cut the Northwestern State lead to 4-3. The Cajuns later tied the game, sending it into extra innings and ultimately winning 5-4 in the 11th inning.

On Friday, Morris had a relatively quiet night, going 1-for-5 with a run. However, Morris saved the best for Saturday’s twinbill.

In game one, he went 2-for-3 with a two-run home run in the bottom of the first inning to give the Cajuns an early lead. UL Lafayette never relinquished the lead in that game and Morris later added a triple, securing a 13-4 Cajuns victory.

In the night cap, Morris went 3-for-4 with his second home run of the day, also adding a single and double to his credit. UL Lafayette earned the sweep after posting a decisive 9-5 victory Saturday night.

During the doubleheader, Morris hit for the cycle in four consecutive at-bats.

LOUISIANA SI

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LAKE CHARLES – On a night when one Ragin’ Cajun pitcher threw six perfect innings and two Louisiana hurlers combined to strike out 16 hitters, it came down to one bloop single in the 11th inning to snap a four-game winning streak.

McNeese shortstop Shawn Yarbrough punched a two-out base hit off Cajun reliever Patrick Green in that frame, plating Ross Blankenship with the winning run as the Cowboys took a 4-3 victory in the first of their two annual rivalry contests here Tuesday.

The Cajuns (22-10) held a 2-0 lead in the seventh inning behind six perfect innings from sophomore starter Brandt Sanders, but the Cowboys erupted for three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to take a 3-2 lead.

It looked like that would be enough, but Cajun catcher Ryan Core led off the ninth inning with a solo home run off McNeese closer Rhett Gulledge to force extra innings.

Green stranded runners in scoring position in every inning, but finally ran out of luck in the 11th when Seth Lastrapes drew a leadoff walk. Owen Clanton moved pinch runner Blankenship with a sacrifice, and Green (1-1) fanned Jeramie Broussard for a second out before Yarbrough looped his game-winner just inside the left-field line.

“We finally got a two-out hit,” said McNeese coach Chad Clement. “We hadn’t had one of those all weekend against Lamar.”

The outcome was a bittersweet one for Cajun coach Tony Robichaux -- the winningest career coach at both schools – who was looking for solid pitching performances while fielding a makeshift lineup.

“Both of them did a great job,” Robichaux said. “We wanted to put Sanders in a road situation and give him a start, and he threw a great game. Pat was able to come in and get some work in, and we needed him to get some innings.”

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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com

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Cajuns, Trojans match solid mound staffs in Sun Belt series.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas-Little Rock’s offensive numbers aren’t going to scare anybody.

Unlike last weekend, when Louisiana’s baseball squad faced a murderer’s row of New Mexico State hitters, the Cajuns will be the team with the more impressive hitting figures when the two teams open a Sun Belt Conference series today.

UALR’s Trojans will step into the batter’s box at newly-renovated Gary Hogan Field for today’s 6 p.m. series opener with a .246 team batting average — far and away the lowest in the Sun Belt.

But Ragin’ Cajun coach Tony Robichaux isn’t fooled by those numbers.

“They have always pitched well and played good defense,” he said of the Trojan squad, “and we’re going to have to match their pitching and continue to defend. Where we have to separate ourselves is at home plate, which we didn’t do Tuesday.”

The Cajuns (22-10, 7-2 Sun Belt) go into the weekend series, which includes 1 p.m. games Saturday and Sunday, atop the conference standings and having won 13 of their last 17 games.

But they also had a four-game win streak snapped on Tuesday in a 4-3 decision at McNeese, and Robichaux saw a lot of parallels between the light-hitting Cowboys and his team’s weekend opponent.

“We kept a low-scoring team in the game,” he said. “The way you beat teams that don’t score a lot of runs is by getting out early on them. That forces them to try to catch up and takes the short game out of play.

“A low-scoring team is going to be at its best when they can bunt and move runners. If you can get up four or five runs, it takes the bunt away and your pitchers’ sliders and changes are more effective.”

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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com

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UL   Hogan Field   UALR 10   "The Cajuns and Trojans battled back and forth Friday night combining for 33 hits and 24 runs, Kraig Schambough took the loss for Louisiana"   14

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9         R H E Ragin' Cajuns 1 0 0 2 3 3 1 0 0         10 16 2 Trojans 5 0 1 0 3 2 0 3 x         14 17 2