The Book: 2004 Baseball

[Cajun Express]

Originally posted by BonCajun
I was real proud of the Cajuns early in the year. I remember thinking a twenty and nine record, this is going to be a fun season. Then I don't know something kind of happened. I got a little down on the team and myself and figured it was over, everybody was getting hurt, coach says wait till next year. Now I'm talking to a friend of mine and he tells me USL won (I didn't correct him) and LSU lost and Tulane lost in their tournaments. I guess I was right in the beginning, I have a reason to be real proud of my Cajuns, won't you join me?

If you can be proud of a team that is not really special then be proud, we lost again last night. I am proud of this team, we have really battled with a lot of serious injuries thoughout the line up and pitching. If our pitching lives up to expectations next year will be special.

[NewsCopy]

Blue Raiders Hand Cajuns First Tournament Loss
Louisiana will play NMSU today at 12:30 in an elimination game.

MOBILE, Ala.- The Cajuns made it interesting in the ninth inning, but couldn’t get enough going to stop the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders. Middle Tennessee rode their starter John Williams to an 8-7 win in round two of the Dodge Sun Belt Conference Tournament at Stanky Field.

Middle Tennessee opened up the contest in the eighth frame.

The Blue Raiders loaded the bases with a trio of singles, two coming by way of bunts in the bottom of the eighth. MTSU took the lead on a sacrifice fly to center.

A passed ball allowed McNamee to score before a Nate Jaggers’ single brought two more Raiders home putting the Cajuns behind 7-4.

Shane Kemp kept the inning alive with a single off of new Cajuns pitcher Thad Montgomery. Montgomery allowed a single to Jeff Beechum, scoring Jaggers from second to put Middle up 8-4.

Williams (8-3) allowed four earned runs on nine hits through eight and one-thirds innings in the winning effort. Matt Scott picked up his first save of the season getting the last two outs in the ninth.

Tonight’s loss went to Kraig Schambough. Schambough (6-4) pitched six innings allowing seven runs, five earned, on nine hits.

Williams sat the top of the Louisiana-Lafayette lineup in order to start the game.

Cajuns righty Ian Pecoraro walked a pair of batters, but struck out a pair to help him and the Cajuns get out of the first inning without allowing any runs to score.

MTSU claimed an early 1-0 lead in the second after Pecoraro walked the bases loaded and then issued a free pass to Eric McNamee on a full count, walking in a run.

Schambough came on in relief of Pecoraro with the bases loaded. Schambough got Chuck Akers to hit into a spectacular 4-6-3 double play.

A Middle Tennessee defensive miscue helped the Cajuns whitewash the lead. Justin Merendino reached base on a fielding error that plated Ryan Core. Core reached base by singling through the left side and took second when John Coker was hit with a pitch.

Coker crossed home as Merendino was caught in a run-down between first and second to give UL Lafayette a 2-1 lead.

Schambough surrendered a double to Phillips and walked Jaggers to start the bottom of the third, but got out of the inning unscathed with a strikeout and a couple of routine fly balls to the outfield.

Williams again sat the Cajuns in order, this time putting down Louisiana-Lafayette in the top of the fifth.

Jaggers opened the bottom of the fifth with an infield single and took second on a fielder’s choice and an errant throw to the bag. Beachum singled into right-center to load the bases. Marcus Taylor put the Blue Raiders up 3-2 with a two-run double to right.

A Troy Harp sacrifice fly ball plated Beachum to give Middle a 4-2 advantage after five.

Middle got a leadoff double from Phillips in the bottom of the sixth, but Schambough would pitch out of the inning holding the Raiders off of the scoreboard.

The Cajuns inched closer at 4-3 in the seventh on a Merendino double to right. Merendino’s base knock plated Josh Landry who drew William’s second walk of the ball game.

Kevin Preau tied the game at 4-4 in the top of the eighth with an RBI double that plated Brad Saloom. Saloom doubled with two-outs in the inning to reach base.

Louisiana nearly came back in the ninth when Coker drew a walk and advanced to third on a Merendino double. Micah Cockrell singled in both runners pulling the Cajuns to within one at 8-7.

Scott; however, got the last two outs without allowing the tying run.

With tonight’s loss, The Cajuns will again face the New Mexico State Aggies, this time in an elimination game, tomorrow at 12:30 p.m.

LOUISIANA SI

[NewsCopy]

HOW IT LOOKED INTO THE EIGHTH

Cajuns, Raiders tied in late Sun Belt tilt

MOBILE, Ala. — Louisiana’s baseball squad, already beaten up physically and short on pitching because of sore arms, still had life late Thursday night in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.

The Ragin’ Cajuns were perilously close to falling into the losers’ bracket late Thursday night, trailing Middle Tennessee 4-3 in the top of the eighth inning, but Kevin Preau’s line drive to center field scored Brad Saloom with the tying run.

That left the game tied at 4-4 at press time in the second-day finale of the double-elimination event at South Alabama’s Eddie Stanky Field.

The Cajuns were only four outs away from falling into a 12:30 p.m. matchup today with New Mexico State in an elimination game before Preau’s game-tying hit. UL Lafayette, which took a 12-8 win over NMSU in Wednesday’s tournament opener, would face the task of winning four games in two days to claim the league title and the accompanying NCAA Tournament berth with a Thursday night loss.

However, a victory would put the Cajuns into a 6:30 p.m. contest tonight against the survivor of a 12:30 p.m. matchup between Middle Tennessee and New Mexico State. The winner of that game would be one victory away from the tournament crown.

The Cajuns have not had coach Tony Robichaux’s top selection as a starting pitcher in either of their first two games in the tournament. Normal league-opening starter Kevin Ardoin has not been available for either game with a sore elbow, and anticipated Thursday starter Patrick Green was also not fully recovered from his last start Saturday.

The Blue Raiders did have who they wanted, and lefthander John Williams was the difference for most of Thursday’s contest. The second-team All-Sun Belt pick checked the Cajuns on only four hits through seven innings and did not allow an earned run while fanning nine.

And the Cajuns did not match that mound performance early.

The Blue Raiders jumped on top early without even making contact at the plate, thanks to the wildness of Cajun starter Ian Pecoraro.

The junior righthander walked four batters in the second inning, with Eric McNamee drawing the fourth of those with the bases loaded to plate Shane Kemp for a 1-0 lead.

Pecoraro, who walked six of the 10 Middle Tennessee batters he faced, was replaced by Kraig Schambough, who coaxed a double-play ground ball from returning Sun Belt Tournament MVP Chuck Akers to get out of a bases-loaded one-out situation.

The rest of the story

Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com

[Turner]

I'd be a lot prouder if they won two today and two tommorrow.

[Turner]

It takes more than the long ball to win tournaments

[Oldman]

CAJUNS 7

NMSU 2

green goes the distance, 10 so,

sports voorhies hit his first homerun of his career.

next up mid. tenn. about 7:30pm. GEAUX CAJUNS AND GOOD LUCK........the cajuns didn't hit that well in this game lets hope they can pick it up in the next game. green held them in check for the most part and made big pitches when he had to.

[Turbine]

Sport Voorhies GrandFather would be proud.

[NewsCopy]

MOBILE, Ala.-Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns stayed alive in the 2004 Dodge Sun Belt Conference with a Friday afternoon win over the New Mexico State. Louisiana hurler Patrick Green went all nine innings in the 7-3 contest. With the win the Cajuns improve to 33-22 overall and 2-1 in this year’s tournament.

Green (6-2) allowed three runs on eight hits while fanning 10 in the complete game win.

The loss went to New Mexico State’s Jason Conner. Conner (4-4) surrendered five runs on five hits through the first two and one-thirds innings of the game.

The Cajuns claimed an early 2-0 lead on a Brad Saloom base hit off of Conner. Saloom singled through the right side after Justin Merendino led off in the first with a single and moved to third on a Josh Landry double.

Green retired the top of the NMSU lineup in order in the bottom of the opening frame.

The Cajuns picked up three runs in the top of the third when John Coker reached base on a Gavin Monjaras throwing error. Coker swiped second and stole third on a strikeout. Josh Landry singled in the run with a flare to center.

Landry stole second before Saloom drew a walk. Rhett Buras singled to load the bases forcing NMSU coach Rocky Ward to make a pitching change. Joseph Hampel became the new Aggies hurler.

Hampel surrendered a sacrifice fly to Kevin Preau scoring Landry from third to give UL a 4-0 lead.

Ryan Core kept the inning alive for Louisiana when he drew a walk to load the bases again for the Cajuns. Hampel’s first offering to Phillip Hawke was in the dirt and bounced to the backstop allowing Saloom to cross the plate.

Louisiana threatened to add more runs in the top of the fourth. Micah Cockrell started the inning with a walk and advanced on a wild pitch. A fly out to center moved the runner to third with two down. Landry walked putting Cajuns on the corners. Saloom hit the ball on the button to center, but it stayed in the park as the fielder made the catch four out number three on the wall.

Mark Aranda and Adrian Ballesteros hit back-to-back singles with two outs in the bottom of the fourth before Green came back to strikeout NMSU designated hitter Emory Davies.

Sport Voorhies singled in Core who reached second base on a fielder’s choice as Buras was caught in a rundown. Voorhies’ base hit put the Cajuns up 6-0.

Coker started the sixth with a double off the wall in center but Hampel came back to get the next three Cajuns in a row to get out of the inning.

Dustin Mote got the Aggies on the board with a solo homerun that opened the bottom of the sixth.

Voorhies took Hampel deep and gone to start the top of the eighth giving UL a 7-1 lead. Voorhies’ longball chased Hampel in favor of J.T. Severe.

Severe started his outing by issuing a free pass to Cockrell who was later caught stealing by Aggies catcher Mark Keller. Severe retired the next two Cajuns holding the score at 7-1.

NMSU got a run in the bottom of the eighth when a pair of singles from Chris Ewen and Mote put Aggies on the corners with no outs in the inning. Xardiel Cotto hit a sacrifice fly ball to left scoring Ewen bringing the score to 7-2.

Green surrendered a solo homerun to Aranda pulling the Aggies to within four at 7-3.

The Cajuns will again have to face the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders in tonight’s tournament action turnaround game scheduled for 6:30 p.m. UL will need two wins over MTSU in order to advance to the final round.

LOUISIANA SI

[CajunFanatic91]

#4 LOUISIANA's RAGIN' CAJUNS 6
#1 MIDDLE TENNESSE STATE BLUE RAIDERS 2

The winner of the final game of the tourney between the Raiders and Cajuns will take on the undefeated tourney cinderella #7 Western Kentucky in tomorrows championship match.

Congrats to the Cajuns, Lets geaux beat Middle Tennesse!

[NewsCopy]

MOBILE, Ala.-Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns rode the arm of ace Kevin Ardoin to a 6-2 downing of the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders in the second game of the day for the squad. The win improves the Cajuns to 34-22 overall with a 3-1 mark in the 2004 Dodge Sun Belt Baseball Tournament.

Ardoin got the ball in the night game against the Blue Raiders and made his presence felt early by sitting the opposition in order in the top of the first.

Brett Carroll singled to the third baseman and stole second, but Ardoin held the Raiders off of the scoreboard getting a a pair of strikeouts to put down MTSU in the top of the second.

Buras went deep to center and gone off of Middle Tennessee starter B.J. Church giving Louisiana a 1-0 lead in the bottom of inning two.

Troy Harp doubled down the first base line with one down in the third before taking off for third on an infield groundout. Ardoin; however, would hold the tying run 90-feet away striking out Chuck Akers to get out of the inning.

UL went up 4-0 in the bottom of the third when Coker was hit with a pitch and stole two bags before Merendino tripled to score the run. Saloom chopped a pitch towards the mound for an infield single that scored Merendino from third.

Preau doubled in Saloom to give the Cajuns the four-run lead.

Ardoin continued to frustrate Raiders batters retiring the side in order in the top of the fourth and one upping his showing by striking out the Middle Tennessee side in order in the fifth..

Buras laced a double down the line in left and advanced to third on a Preau sacrifice bunt. Core plated Buras with a single through the left side giving Louisiana a 5-0 lead.

A pair of fielding errors cost the Cajuns two runs in the top of the eighth after Middle Tennessee loaded the bases with a pair of singles and new Cajuns pitcher Brandt Sanders hit a batter. Sanders did come back to strikeout the last two batters to get out of the inning.

Saloom started the bottom of the frame with an infield single off the ankle of Church. The injured pitcher was lifted for Travis Horchel.

Preau tripled down the right field line scoring Saloom to give the Ragin’ Cajuns a 6-2 lead.

Danny Bourne came in to deal for MTSU. Phillip Hawke put a bunt down in an attempt to score Preau from home, but Preau was thrown out at the plate as Hawke reached on a fielder’s choice.

Sanders closed out the game holding the contest at 6-2.

Ardoin (6-2) picked up the win tonight throwing seven and one-thirds innings allowing one earned run on seven hits. Ardoin struck out 10 in the outing.

Church (6-1) took the loss allowing six runs on eight hits while fanning 10 of his own.

The Cajuns will play these same Blue Raiders tomorrow in an elimination game set for 9:30 a.m. Should the Cajuns win in the 9:30 game, they will take on the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers in a 12:30 championship game.

LOUISIANA SI