The Book: 2004 Baseball

[NewsCopy]

Changes could affect one of nation’s best leagues

The numbers don’t lie.

The five best conferences in the country for college baseball are the SEC, the ACC, the Big 12, the Pac-10, and the Sun Belt Conference.

That’s how the leagues ranked in the NCAA’s final ratings percentage index (RPI) for the 2003 season, a fact not lost on UL Lafayette head baseball coach Tony Robichaux.

“Being in the Sun Belt makes us a better baseball program,” Robichaux said. “The first thing we tell recruits is that we play in the fifth-best conference in the country.”

Six different Sun Belt schools have played in the NCAA Tournament since 2000 and 14 league teams have been in the NCAA’s in the last four years.

The Sun Belt for the fifth straight year had three teams in the postseason, and has had multiple teams in the NCAA tournament for 15 consecutive years.

That’s why Robichaux is a little nervous with all the talk about potential conference realignment, more specifically the possibility of an alignment that would have the Ragin’ Cajuns in a remodeled Western Athletic Conference.

The rest of the story

Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com

[Oldman]

did anyone noticed we will play the entire month of march at home, "WOW," woopee, i think the michigan harvard games was suppose to be the mardi gras series, i'm not sure, really looking forward to baseball.

[NewsCopy]

Louisiana's 2004 Baseball Roster

Position	NAME	Bat	Throw	STATUS	Last SCHOOL
Catcher	Core, Ryan	R	R	SR	Louisiana
Catcher	Massiatte, Adam	R	R	JR	Blinn
Catcher	Morgan, Justin	R	R	JR	Louisiana
Infielder 2b	Saloom, Brad	R	R	SR	Louisiana
Infielder 3b	Morris, Dallas	R	R	JR	Louisiana
Infielder ss	Parker, Jameson	L	R	JR	Okaloosa Walton
Infielder 1b	Buras, Rhett	R	R	SR	Louisiana
Infielder 1b	Hawke, Philip	L	L	JR	Louisiana
Infielder 1b, 3b, c	Tatford, Jeffries	L	R	FR	St. Thomas Moore
Infielder 2b	Merendino, Justin	R	R	JR	North Central
infielder 2b, ss	Bourque, Devin	L	R	SO	Louisiana
Infielder 2b, ss	Bourque, Justin	L	R	SR	Louisiana
Infielder 3b, p	Cockrell, Micah	R	R	JR	Texarkana
Outfielder	Coker, John	R	R	JR	Seminole St.
Outfielder	Guerrerro, Leonard "Len"	R	R	JR	Howard
Outfielder	Preau, Kevin	R	R	SR	Louisiana
Outfielder	Rodriguez, Jason	L	R	JR	Central AZ
Outfielder p	Landry, Josh	L	R	SO	Louisiana
Pitcher	Belanger, Ben	L	L	JR	Glendale
Pitcher	Hays, Aaron	L	L	SR	Louisiana
Pitcher	Martinez, Jeff	L	L	SO	Louisiana
Pitcher	Sanders, Brandt	L	L	SO	Louisiana
Pitcher	Mayfield, Brian	L	L	JR	Maplewoods
Pitcher	Whipple , Jeremy	R	R	FR	Louisiana
Pitcher	Ardoin, Kevin	R	R	JR	Louisiana
Pitcher	Montgomery, Thad	R	R	SR	Louisiana
Pitcher	Olivier, Bubba	R	R	JR	Louisiana
Pitcher	Pecoraro, Ian	R	R	JR	Temple
Pitcher	Ragan, Jason "Josh"	R	R	JR	Hill
Pitcher	Salazar, Jared	R	R	JR	Louisiana
Pitcher	Schambough, Kraig	R	R	JR	Louisiana
Pitcher 1b	Voorhies, Sport	R	R	SR	Louisiana
Pitcher DH	Kohrs, Josh	R	R	JR	Maplewoods
Pitcher ss	Green, Patrick	R	R	SR	Univ. of Tenn.

[TuffGuy84]

From what Ive heard, Scott Williamson will be transferring to a JC. He told me that if he didnt make this years roster he wanted to go somewhere where hed get a chance to play, which sucks because Scotts cool, I enjoy hangen out with that guy.

Tuffguy

[Southpaw03]

Was Coach Robe able to get the okay to expand the roster to 34 or will he have to make roster moves again when Massiatte and Ragan get here? Last season he was only able to carry 32.

[NewsCopy]

Umatilla senior catcher Jon Lucroy wants to do a little ragin’ as a Cajun.

Lucroy, a Daily Commercial first-team catcher last season, has committed to Louisiana-Lafayette, turning down several offers from other schools.

Lucroy is expected to sign with the Division I Cajuns at 1 p.m. today. Lucroy, 17, said he picked the Cajuns for several reasons, not the least of which was a chance to step right in and play as a freshman.

“Next year they will have a junior catcher, so that’s all they’ll have,” Lucroy said. “So when they sign me it will be a junior and a freshman catcher. So we will basically split the games in half.”

Another reason Lucroy chose the Cajuns is because it is a Division I program. He turned down chances to play at Austin Peay, Flagler and Liberty, among other smaller schools. Even though it’s a long way away from home, it does have its advantages, he said.

The rest of the story

By BRIAN CAMPBELL
Daily Commercial Staff Writer

[NewsCopy]

LOUISIANA La. — There was never any doubt where Jonathan Smith wanted to pitch in college. It was just a matter of getting the chance.

A strong junior season at Catholic High-New Iberia gave him that opportunity, and on Wednesday Smith made it official in signing with Louisiana’s baseball program.

“That’s always where I wanted to go,” Smith said. “I like the team, I like the school and Coach Robichaux can really help me as a pitcher.”

The 6-foot-1, 185-pound lefthander is the first of an expected 12 signees for head coach Tony Robichaux and the Ragin’ Cajun squad. The Cajuns are expected to announce the balance of their signing class today, with Smith part of what is expected to be as many as eight pitchers in that class.

The rest of the story

Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com

[1stTake]

I would expect a mistake on Cajun not Ragin.

[NewsCopy]

LOUISIANA La. — Louisiana’s baseball program took another step toward continued success with the signing of what head coach Tony Robichaux called a solid recruiting class.

The Ragin’ Cajuns got confirmation Thursday on the last few of a total of 12 national letter of intent signees in the NCAA’s early signing period that began Wednesday. The group includes three junior college players — all pitchers — and nine incoming freshmen for the 2004-05 season.

“We think there’s a lot of ability in this group,” said Robichaux. “We were able to fill a lot of spots where we could look ahead and see where we might need help, and there’s no doubt that a lot of these guys are going to make an immediate impact on our squad.”

The Cajun signee class includes seven pitchers, four position players and one two-way player in lefthanded pitcher-first baseman C.J. Blue of Mesquite, Texas, who is listed as one of Texas’ top senior prospects by two different scouting services.

Blue, in fact, is one of several players on the list whose status as an eventual collegian could be affected by next summer’s amateur draft.

“That’s something you always face when you go after players on this level,” Robichaux said.

The rest of the story
Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com

[NewsCopy]

2003 UL Lafayette baseball signees

Name, Pos Ht. Wt Hometown-HS (JC)

Tim Beasley, RHP 6-4 185 Glenwood, Min. (Iowa Western CC)

C. J. Blue, LHP/1B 6-1 170 Mesquite, Texas-Poteet

Matthew Bounds, OF 6-0 200 Purvis, Miss.-Purvis

Jonathan Cottrell, RHP 6-4 180 Niceville, Fla. Okaloosa-Walton JC)

Geoffrey Craig, IF 6-2 185 Palm Harbor, Fla.-Clear. Cath.

John Glass, RHP 6-2 200 Clermont, Fla.-East Ridge

T.J. Gros, LHP 6-1 165 Amelia-Morgan City

Matthew Hicks, IF 5-11 175 Houston, Texas-Memorial

Jonathan Lucroy, C 6-1 185 Umatilla, Fla.-Umatilla

Hunter Moody, LHP 6-1 185 Clinton-Silliman Inst.

Ken Pokryfke, LHP 6-1 195 Twin Lakes, Wis. (Wabash Valley CC)

Jonathan Smith, LHP 6-1 185 New Iberia-Catholic High