The Book: 2004 Baseball

[Southpaw03]

Thanks for the info!!

[Rebel02]

Originally posted by oldman
it sure would be nice to see more people at the baseball luncheon, and i (to be honest)cannot figure this out.

I'll tell you why some people can't make it. I am still in class when the luncheon starts and ends. Most people are still working at the time. I know they try to schedule it during lunch hours, but most people do have different lunch hours. Not all of us have the luxury of shifting around our schedule to attend a luncheon every week.

GEAUX CAJUNS!!

[Oldman]

i understand what you are saying, but, trust me when i tell you this! for football it is packed. thanks,and good luck in school. GEAUX CAJUNS

[NewsCopy]

LOUISIANA Là — Even though Louisiana’s primary baseball focus is now on Sun Belt Conference play, the Ragin’ Cajuns are in no position to take any games lightly — especially those against state and nearby rivals.

The Cajuns have 11 such non-conference affairs remaining this season, 10 against Louisiana foes and a trip to nearby Lamar, and the first of those is tonight at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field when Northwestern State visits in the first of four meetings between the teams.

Tonight’s 6:30 p.m. contest will be followed by two more games in Lafayette May 8-9, affairs scheduled six weeks ago after the Cajuns had a series of early-season contests rained out, and a May 11 contest in Natchitoches.

And Cajun coach Tony Robichaux knows every one of them will be a battle.

“They’re a good club that’s been playing very well,” Robichaux said of the Demons, “and it will be a tough situation for us because we won’t be able to pitch a lot of guys very long.”

They can’t do that with New Mexico State’s power-laden Aggies coming to town two days later for a key Sun Belt series that begins Friday. The Cajuns (18-9, 4-2 Sun Belt) have taken two of three games in their first two league series, winning the first two and falling in the finale.

The rest of the story

Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com

[CAJUNJUDO]

Demons 4
Cajuns 4

10th inning


Any updates on the score yet? I had to come to the lab to finish a paper.

[ULTubaTom]

Cajuns win 5-4 bottom of ll inning.

[NewsCopy]

Northwestern   Tigue Moore Field   LOUISIANA 4   Schambough got the win, with the help of felow reliever Brandt Sanders as the Ragin' Cajuns improve to 19-9   5

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 R H E Demons 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 8 1 Ragin' Cajuns 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 0 1 5 11 0

[NewsCopy]

Louisiana lets Northwestern down lightly in 11

LOUISIANA La. - Fans were treated to an extra-inning come-from-behind Ragin’ Cajuns victory over the Demons of Northwestern State Wednesday night at Moore Field in Lafayette

Josh Landry shoved a single through the right side of the infield with the bases loaded in the 11th inning scoring pinch runner Adam Massiatte with the game-winning run as Louisiana completed the comeback to take the contest by a final of 5-4.

Solid relief efforts from Brandt Sanders and Kraig Schambough helped the Cajuns improve to 19-9 on the season.

Schambough got the win on the hill for Louisiana-Lafayette throwing the final five outs without surrendering a hit. Sanders relieved starter Jeff Morgan scattering three hits and one run over six and one-thirds innings.

The Demons benefited from leadoff hits in the first and third innings to claim a 3-0 lead after three complete.

Tigger Lyles led off the game sending the first offering from Louisiana starter Jeff Morgan into right field. Michael Palermo then sacrificed Lyles over to second with a bunt down the third base line.

Lyles later stole third and was brought home on a groundout to shortstop Micah Cockrell by Josh Boop for a 1-0 lead.

Bandon Morgan, who drew a one-out walk before Boop’s grounder, advanced to second on the grounder. Bobby Barbier then lifted a single up the middle into center field that scored Morgan with the Demons’ second run of the first frame.

Boop created havoc for the Cajuns in the third, belting a double deep into the right field corner that allowed Brandon Morgan to round third for a 3-0 lead. Morgan reached base on a fielder’s choice after Palermo led off the inning with a single into left field.

Boop’s hit was the Demons second of the third and fifth through the first three frames off of Jeff Morgan. Brandt Sanders relieved Morgan in the fourth inning and kept the Demons at bay.

NSU starter Rusty Jones kept the Cajuns hitters off balance through the first four innings, giving up just one hit – a two-out double by Brad Saloom in the bottom of the first.

After Sanders gave up a solo home run to Palermo in the top of the fifth, the Cajuns got the run back with a solo shot from Kevin Preau in the bottom half cutting the Demons lead to 4-1. The home run was Preau’s first of the season.

Sanders continued his solid relief effort into the sixth inning. The Cajuns lefty struck out the first two batters of the inning and induced a grounder from Jeff Martin to keep the deficit at three runs.

The Cajuns continued to work their way back into the contest scratching for two more runs in the bottom of the sixth when Dallas Morris launched a rocket shot over the left field wall for a two-out home run that cut the Demons lead to 4-3.

Saloom drew a one-out walk to set up Morris’ eighth blast of the season. Morris’ home run came after Phillip Hawke went down looking in the at bat before.

After stranding two runners in the seventh and eighth innings, the Cajuns finally broke through with the tying run in the ninth inning.

Saloom led off the Cajuns half of the eighth with a walk. The Cajuns lost a golden opportunity in that inning when Phillip Hawke failed to execute the sacrifice bunt. Hawke’s attempt popped up to a diving Hunter Thoms.

A single up the middle from Dallas Morris gave the Cajuns runners on first and second, but John Coker would strike out looking and Ryan Core flied out to right field to end the threat.

A perfectly executed sacrifice in the ninth inning led to the Cajuns scoring the tying run that sent the contest into extra frames.

Pinch hitter Justin Bourque led off the Cajuns ninth with a single into center field. Kevin Preau, who homered in the fifth inning, laid down the sacrifice bunt that moved Bourque into scoring position at second base.

Justin Merendino paid dividends on the next at bat when he pushed a single through the hole of the left side of the infield that allowed Bourque to score and tie the game at 4-4.

Merendino took second base on the throw from left field and moved over to third when the throw from Palermo sailed over the catcher’s head allowing Merendino to advance.

UL Lafayette ran itself out of the possible winning run when Merendino attempted to take home after a throw from NSU catcher Jeff Martin sailed behind the third base bag. Thoms was quick to recover at third and was able to punch out Merendino at the plate for the second out.

Louisiana-Lafayette will be back in Sun Belt action this weekend, playing host to the Aggies of New Mexico State. Friday night’s game will start at 6:30 p.m. with Saturday’s televised matinee set to go at 2:05 p.m. The Cajuns and Aggies will go again on Easter Sunday with the first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m.

LOUISIANA SI

[NewsCopy]

Cajuns escape Demons in 11-inning affair

LOUISIANA La. — On the box score, Kraig Schambough was the winning pitcher and Josh Landry had the game-winning hit in the bottom of the 11th inning.

Both deserved their accolades here Wednesday night as UL rallied for a 5-4 victory over Northwestern State, but the plate performance of Kevin Preau and the pitching of Brandt Sanders were just as important in the Cajuns’ 10th win in their last 13 games.

Preau had a two-out home run in the fifth inning for the Cajuns’ first run after the Demons had bolted out to a 4-0 lead, and put both the tying run in the ninth inning and the winning run in the 11th into scoring position with sacrifice bunts.

And Sanders went the middle six and one-third innings, retiring 11 straight batters in allowing only three hits and finishing with eight strikeouts, in giving his squad exactly what coach Tony Robichaux asked — a chance for his offense to come around.

“Sanders kept us there and gave us a chance to win,” Robichaux said. “And Preau got us going and was then able to get the bunt down, which we didn’t do earlier.”

The rest of the story

Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com

[NewsCopy]

LOUISIANA Là — Kraig Schambough says it was just a matter of time.

University of Louisiana head coach Tony Robichaux says it was getting him back to a comfort zone.

Whatever the reason, the Ragin’ Cajun senior right-hander has found his stride in his past two appearances, showing the form that made him one of the Sun Belt Conference’s dominant hurlers during the latter half of the 2003 season.

“My windup’s better now and my arm’s feeling better,” Schambough said after picking up his second straight relief win Wednesday night against Northwestern State. “Mostly, it’s just getting in a groove.”

Against the Demons, he came into the game with one out in the ninth inning and retired all five batters he faced — a fly ball followed by two ground outs and two strikeouts — as the Cajuns rallied for a 5-4, 11-inning victory.

“He just did what he does,” said outfielder Josh Landry, whose 10th-inning single plated the winning run and boosted Schambough to 5-1 this year. “He comes in and gets guys out and gives us a chance to win.”

Exactly one week ago, he also entered the game in the ninth inning against Middle Tennessee with a tie game and nobody out and worked out of a bases-loaded situation. He then added five more pressure-packed innings before the Cajuns finally won a 14-inning 6-5 decision.

The Carencro product was part of the Cajuns’ starting staff earlier this season, but has been much more effective in his regular role out of the bullpen in recent weeks. His season ERA is at 4.23, but in his six relief appearances his ERA is 1.88 (14 1/3 innings, four runs, three earned runs).

The rest of the story

Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com

[NewsCopy]

LOUISIANA Là — New Mexico State is the Sun Belt Conference’s leading offensive team coming into this weekend’s key league series against Louisiana.

The big-swinging Aggies are hitting .319 as a team and have 78 home runs in 34 games along with a slugging mark of .600 — a full 100 slugging points ahead of a Ragin’ Cajun squad that has 33 homers in 28 games.

But when the Cajuns (19-9, 4-2 Sun Belt) host the Aggies (24-9-1, 4-2) beginning tonight, it’s the Cajun squad that may have the advantage at the plate.

The numbers don’t lie ... get nationally-ranked New Mexico State away from the rarefied air and prevailing winds in Las Cruces, and the Aggies are more than mortal.

In 24 home games, NMSU is hitting .353 as a team with 70 home runs and a .700 slugging mark in compiling a 20-4 record at Presley Askew Field. The Aggies get one home run every 11.8 at bats in their home park.

But in their 10 road games this year, the Aggies are 4-5-1 and are hitting .238 with only eight homers, and are getting a homer every 43 at bats.

That doesn’t mean the Aggies won’t be dangerous when the three-game series begins tonight at 6:30 p.m. at Moore Field. But it does mean that the Cajuns don’t need to alter a formula that has resulted in 10 wins in their last 13 games.

“Our guys are not going to go out and try to out-number them,” said Cajun assistant coach John Szefc. “That’s not productive. It doesn’t matter who we play, we’re going to take our game plan and do what we do. If we pitch and play defense, we’ll be fine.”

The rest of the story

Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com

[NewsCopy]

NMSU   Tigue Moore Field   UL 1   11 runs on 11 hits with no errors and a complete game from Kevin Ardoin prove to be efficiency without deficiency.   11

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9         R H E Aggies 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   0     1 7 2 Ragin' Cajuns 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 6 x   0     11 11 0

Louisiana Là - The Cajuns went deep four times and Kevin Ardoin pitched a dandy as the Ragin’ Cajuns rumbled to an 11-1 win over conference foes the New Mexico State Aggies. The Cajuns hit consecutive homeruns in the third after Phillip Hawke set the tone early with a three-run jack in the bottom of the first.

Hawke drove in the first three runs of the game in the opening stanza with a line drive that left the yard in a hurry. Hawke’s eighth homer on the year came after Justin Merendino worked his way on with a walk and took second on a Josh Landry single to the left side to start things for Louisiana-Lafayette.

Landry and Justin Bourque led off the bottom of the third with back-to-back homeruns to claim a 5-1 lead for the home team and put the game out of reach for the Aggies.

Kevin Ardoin tossed a complete game being touched up for only one run while scattering seven hits through the nine innings. Ardoin (4-1) cruised helping the Cajuns to improving to 5-3 overall in Sun Belt action.

The loss went to NMSU’s Dustin Cameron who gave up five runs on six hits through the first seven innings of baseball. Cameron (1-2)’s loss came as the tenth on the season for the Aggies.

Ardoin sat the Aggies 1-2-3 in the top of the first.

Adrian Ballesteros homered in the top of the second to pull the Aggies to with two.

Ardoin retired the Aggies’ side in order in the top of the third.

New Mexico State threatened in the top of the fourth when Billy Becher dropped a one-out double into left before Ballesteros walked putting runners on first and second now with two gone. Ardoin employed his strikeout pitch to get the third out in the inning swinging away.

Cameron got one strikeout helping to sit the Cajuns side in order in the bottom of the fifth.

Ardoin followed suit seating the Aggies in order in the top of the next frame.

New Mexico State loaded the bases but couldn’t score in the seventh. Mark Aranda singled to right before Emory Davies walked on a full a count. Gavin Monjaras hit a bloop that fell for a single to load the bases. Ardoin pitched out of the jam getting a strikeout and a groundout up the middle to end the inning.

The Cajuns added six runs in the eighth highlighted by Merendino’s sixth homerun of the season. The two-run shot over the leftfield wall ended any doubt regarding the outcome of the game.

These same two clubs will play again tomorrow at 2:05 p.m. before the series wraps up on Easter Sunday with a 1:00 p.m. matinee.

LOUISIANA SI