The Book: 2004 Baseball

[Cajun Express]

I think the hitting is not going to be a problem. Still too many errors and we need two solid starters. Right now we have one who is good for about 7 innings and sometimes up to 9. The rest will be by committee.

[CDeb]

Originally posted by pirogue
1836 WAS THE ANNOUNCED ATTENDANCE????
It looked like half that, I really expected a bigger crowd at the game than what I saw.

Ardoin is phenomenal, but his stuff drops off after 90 or so pitches... IMHO

They announce paid attendance. And since the chairbacks are sold out with season tickets, the announced crowds are never going to be very low.

[NewsCopy]

LOUISIANA La. - Ragin' Cajun first baseman Phillip Hawke was named Collegiate Baseball’s “Louisville Slugger” National Player of the Week and Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week.

Hawke hit .545 while belting four homeruns over three weekend games against the Michigan Wolverines and the Crimson of Harvard University. The UL Junior hit two longballs in the Cajuns’ Friday night win over Michigan, a grand slam in Saturday afternoon’s win over Harvard and a three-run shot Sunday that helped lift the Cajuns over the Crimson.

The Baton Rouge native finished the three-game set with 15 RBIs. Fifteen total bases and a 1.727 slugging percentage also highlight Hawke’s performance.

Hawke recieved the night off in the Cajuns' first game of the week, a 13-0 victory over Texas Southern on Tuesday.

Cajuns pitcher Kevin Ardoin was awarded Sun Belt Conference Pitcher of the Week and College Baseball Insider National Player of the Week earlier this season.

Louisiana Sports Writers Association Player of the Week will be announced on Tuesday.

LOUISIANA SI

[NewsCopy]

Lamar provides tough final SBC tuneup

LOUISIANA La.— The Ragin' Cajun baseball squad has one final chance to fine-tune itself and keep a red-hot streak alive entering Sun Belt Conference play

That opportunity comes tonight when University of Louisiana (14-6) entertain long-time rival and nationally-ranked Lamar University (17-6) in a 6:30 p.m. contest at Moore Field.

The Cajuns play their first Sun Belt series beginning Friday against Western Kentucky, also at Moore Field, and would like nothing better than to continue its level of play from the past two weeks.

In that time, UL has won seven of eight, and produced 53 runs over the weekend in sweeping three runaway games from Michigan (16-5) and Harvard (14-5, 23-9). The Cajuns have also won 13 of their 14 home appearances this year.

But head coach Tony Robichaux knows that can change at a moment’s notice, and that the Cardinals and the Hilltoppers will provide more intense tests for his squad.

“We can’t afford to fool ourselves,” Robichaux said after Sunday’s victory produced the highest run total since a 26-run tally against Prairie View A&M in 1996. “We’re going to have some much bigger challenges in these games, and we can’t make the mistakes that we made this weekend or they’ll cost us.”

The rest of the story

Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com

[Oldman]

you need to come to the luncheon at 11:30 today and get the latest on who will be the pitching rotation this weekend (conference). i'm not worried about those little silly errors those are the kind you can fix, if it were major errors i'd be worried, now the one thing that is a concern you may not have notice is the consistency of our bull pen; now that's what worry me, sham is going back, but we will get the rest of the story today. come on over, look forward to seeing you, everyone's welcome. remember tonight! it's going to be a good test for us. GEAUX CAJUNS.

[RaginCajun13]

Congrats Phillip!! You definately deserve the honor!! We will be cheering you on tonight against Lamar!!!

[Southpaw03]

Oldman,
Please give us a report on what Robe says today at the luncheon. Unable to make it ...very interested in what he has to say. Thanks!

[UL_Cajuns]

Geaux Louisiana

[Oldman]

coach rob spoke alittle about lamar in that they are a pretty good club and that he welcomes the test to see where the team is before conference. they beat texas state, san marcus 2 out of 3, they sweep ark state, tech,and won a game against arizona state, st john, wake forest. they hit as a team .272, slg% .423, they play good defense and pitch well. no one really stands out.

western Kentucky, not a powerful team, beat vanderbilt, nothing that stands out.

coach mainly focused on the cajuns, how our guys need to play the game and not the scoreboard, he cautioned about this past weekend in particular and they need to build on thier accomplishment staying focus on what's ahead, cutting down on errors, putting the best swing on a pitch talking about the job coach szefc and bab has done with the hitters, pitching rotation: ardoin fri,kohrs sat,and sunday still up for grabs, shambough back to the bull pen, along with green, sanders,jeff morgan etc. sunday could be salazar-jeff morgan-pecoraro(who is starting tonite), middle relief sanders-thad-etc. their are alot of options. also talked about improvements, southern structure donated 2 canopy(red)permanent location 1st and 3rd base side, left field side completed cemented,new speaker (donated)should be in by apr 1st. new state of the art video equipment(donated)michigan state brought one and used it to record and chart the game, players will be able to come in after a bat and see what happened. it's alot guys i could keep going, really if you can make a luncheon you could get more info. he also talked about diferent positions, situations, 25 man roster(his feelings)signees one in particular a kid name Jonathan Lucroy, C (HS), from Umatilla Fla. about how patrick green hurt himself in the weight room(he's okay)and much more.

[Southpaw03]

Thank you for the info!! I will definitely try to make the next luncheon.

[RaginFan2]

Thanks for the info, Oldman. Those of us who are out of the area really appreciate it. It's kinda tough to make a luncheon from Mandeville! lol Keep up the good work.

[NewsCopy]

LOUISIANA La. — UL baseball coach Tony Robichaux wanted his team to get back to playing real baseball, and Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns did that here Tuesday night.

Lamar’s Cardinals did it a little better.

The Cardinals rallied back from a 2-0 deficit, pushing across single runs in each of the last three innings and getting solid efforts from six different pitchers in taking a 4-3 decision over the Cajuns at Moore Field.

Lamar (18-6), ranked 28th in one national collegiate poll, plated its winning run in the top of the ninth inning on a wild pitch that scored pinch runner Joe Haney. The Cajuns had extended that inning on a misplay of a John-Austin Emmons bunt, but still were one out away from preserving a tie before a Thad Montgomery pitch eluded catcher Adam Massiatte.

“We had all the chances to break it open early and we didn’t do it,” said Robichaux, whose team lost for only the second time in 15 home games. “When you don’t do that, it forces you to play perfect at the end.”

The Cajuns (14-7) left nine runners on base in the last six innings and only added one run after getting two runs from their first four batters. That came in contrast to a weekend that saw UL Lafayette score 53 runs in three wins over Michigan and Harvard.

“We knew that we were going to have to play more real baseball than we did last weekend,” Robichaux said. “We knew Lamar was going to come with some good arms, but we had an opportunity to separate ourselves early.”

The rest of the story

Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com