Pitching isn’t weak yet
Cajun pitchers show good signs in 4-2 victory over professional alumni team.
LOUISIANA La. — Ragin’ Cajun opponents and teams in the Sun Belt Conference better not underestimate Louisiana’s pitching staff for the 2004 season.
That unit ran four arms to the mound Saturday afternoon in the Cajuns’ annual contest against its professional alumni, and the pro squad managed a grand total of one earned run.
That effort, coupled with newcomer John Coker’s involvement in three scoring innings, helped give the current Cajun squad a 4-2 victory over the alumni group as the highlight of Fan Day activities.
“A lot of people may think we’re down pitching-wise because of people that aren’t here any more and people that are hurt,” said Cajun coach Tony Robichaux. “But we have guys that can throw the baseball.”
The only earned run for the professional and ex-pro squad was a fourth-inning solo home run by Ryan Gill off Kevin Ardoin, the second of six pitchers used by Robichaux in the last full Cajun tuneup before next Friday’s Opening Day against Sam Houston State.
Jered Salazar threw two strong innings as the starter and Ardoin had the next two innings. Both fanned two, as did Brandt Sanders in the fifth and sixth innings. Josh Kohrs, Bubba Olivier and Jeremy Whipple worked the final three innings and allowed only two base runners as a group.
Coker, meanwhile, was the offensive key. The junior college signee and starting center fielder led off the game with a triple and scored on Josh Landry’s double. He then added a run in the third inning when he walked, moved up on Landry’s single and scored on Micah Cockrell’s RBI single.
The Cajuns then scored the eventual winning run in the seventh inning when Coker drew a bases-loaded walk that plated Brandon Montemayor.
“He is absolutely going to be a catalyst for us,” Robichaux said. “He gets things going offensively, and he’s going to be able to keep us in double-play situations defensively because of his range and his arm.
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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com
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