The Book: 2004 Baseball

[NewsCopy]

Cajuns blast New Mexico St. in opener

Louisiana Là — Home runs were flying out of Moore Field on a regular basis Friday in the opening game of Louisiana’s Sun Belt Conference series against New Mexico State.

But in contrast to their eye-popping season numbers, it wasn’t the Aggies that spent their Friday evening trotting around the bases.

The host Cajuns tied their season high with four home runs, three in the first three innings, and scored seven runs on those shots in rolling to an 11-1 victory and within percentage points of first place in the league race.

Louisiana (20-9, 5-2 Sun Belt) got a three-run first-inning homer from Phillip Hawke and never looked back after Josh Landry and Justin Bourque had back-to-back homers off NMSU starter Dustin Cameron (5-3) to lead off the third inning.

That was plenty for junior right-hander Kevin Ardoin (4-1), who kept the league’s top hitting club off balance the entire evening. The Aggies (24-10-1, 4-3), who are ranked 30th in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll, got their only run on Adrian Ballesteros’ second-inning solo homer and got only one other runner to third base.

“We knew coming in that they liked to pull off the ball,” said Ardoin, who recorded 17 ground-ball outs to go with five strikeouts. “I worked away a lot. I knew I had to say ahead and not let them get comfortable in our park, and the defense turned them over a couple of times.”

The rest of the story

[NewsCopy]

LOUISIANA La. - Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns Baseball office has announced that the scheduled Sunday game against New Mexico State has been moved up due to approaching inclement weather conditions. The two teams will play a split doubleheader today at Moore Field.

NMSU SERIES
Game 1 UL 11 - NMSU 1
Game 2 UL 13 - NMSU 4
Game 3 UL 9 - NMSU 5

Fans should know that a separate ticket will be required for entry to this evening’s game two. Sunday’s ticket can be used for the 7:00 p.m. game.

[NewsCopy]

NMSU   Tigue Moore Fieled   UL 4   The streak of 5 straight error free games ends, still Louisiana jumps out to a 6-0 lead as Pecoraro cruises to a 2-1 record. Louisiana has chance to COMPLETE the SWEEP   13

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9         R H E Aggies 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 1         4 8 1 Ragin' Cajuns 3 3 0 0 2 3 1 1 X         13 13 2

LAFAYETTE-Fireworks in Saturday’s first game of a doubleheader lifted the Cajuns to a 13-4 win over New Mexico State Aggies. The explosion continued in the nightcap as the Cajuns completed their sweep over the Aggies of New Mexico State by a score of 9-5.

Ian Pecoraro tossed the first six and one-thirds scattering three hits (two earned) that came off of six hits. Pecoraro (2-1) fanned five NMSU batters in the outing earniung the win in game one.

Jason Perkins got the loss in game one throwing two innings surrendering six runs on six hits while walking five.

Xardiel Cotto walked to start the first before Kevin Preau robbed Peter Arroyo of extra bases on a spectacular catch in right-center. Josh Landry made an other outstanding catch for the second out in the top of the inning before a heads up throw back from Pecoraro to second base caught Cotto who failed to tag the bag on his way back to first after an attempt to advance.

Josh Landry walked with one gone in the bottom of the first. Landry advanced on a groundout to second. Perkins balked to move Landry 90 feet closer to homeplate before Phillip Hawke doubled down the leftfield line to give the Cajuns a 1-0 lead.

Dallas Morris added to that lead with a two-run shot that left the yard over the wall in left-center.

Mark Aranda singled up the middle and Emory Davies walked to put Aggies on first and second. A fielder’s choice put runners on the corners with two outs. A walk loaded the bases before a fielding error brought a run home for NMSU.

Preau walked to start he bottom of the third before Micah Cockrell homered to put the Cajuns ahead by a 5-1 count. John Coker drew a walk before advancing on a wild pitch and stealing third. Landry plated Coker on a groundout to the first base side.

The Aggies threatened but didn’t score in the top of the third when Peter Arroyo started the inning with a double to left-center. Billy Becher moved the runner to third with a groundout to short. Preau fielded a fly out in right and gunned Arroyo down at home in an attempt to tag up.

The Cajuns put runners on in the third and fourth but NMSU turned a double play in each inning to avert further run damage.

Chris Ewen singled to the left side and Cotto walked to put runners on first and second. Arroyo doubled down the leftfield line to score a run and leave runners on second and third. Becher hit a sac fly out to left scoring another bringing the score to 6-3.

Pecoraro retired the Aggies in order in the top of the fourth.

Justin Merendino and Landry both singled to start the inning. Justin Bourque bunted his way on loading the bases for Hawke who singled to short scoring two more.

Preau led off the bottom of the sixth with a homerun to give Louisiana a 9-3 lead.

The next batter in the inning, Cockrell, was hit by Coppinger’s first offering before Coker drew a walk. Merendino put down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners over. Cockrell scored on a wild pitch before Landry singled in Coker to give bring the score to 11-3 in favor of Louisiana-Lafayette.

Jeff Morgan came on in relief of Pecoraro with two baserunners on and one out in the top of the seventh. Morgan got the next two outs in order to retire the New Mexico State side.

The Cajuns tacked on one more in the seventh on a groundout to short after Morris tripled to right-center.

The Cajuns scored another runs on Landry’s single to center in the bottom of the eighth.

The Aggies loaded the bases in the and got one run in the top of the ninth as Morgan induced ground balls to end the game.

LOUISIANA SI

[1stTake]

cajuns 21-9

[LatvianCajun]

I wish my high school team was 21-9.

We're 1-8

[NewsCopy]

NMSU   Tigue Moore Fieled   UL 5   Louisiana gets back on track with errorless ball as the Ragin' Cajuns SWEEP the Aggies in SunBelt conference play   9

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

LOUISIANA Là - In game two of Saturdays weather induced double header, Louisiana continued the offensive showcase displayed in the first two games of the series by exploding for nine runs off of 11 hits including three homeruns from Hawke, Morris and Core.

Cajuns starter for game two Jered Salazar got the win pitching five and two-thirds giving up four runs on seven hits while fanning seven.

The loss went to Jason Conner who was touched up for five runs on seven hits through two innings of work.

Cotto tripled to start the game before scoring on an Arroyo single to left.

Davies doubled with one gone in the top of the second and took third on a passed ball. The Aggies made it 2-0 on a Mark Keller RBI single to left.

Hawke cut the lead in half with his ninth homerun of the season. Hawke’s solo shot left the yard over the wall in right-center.

The Cajuns tied the game and claimed the lead in the bottom of the second when Morris doubled up the middle and scored on Preau’s double to right. Preau was lifted for pinch runner Leonard Guerrero after rounding first base awkwardly and hobbling into second. Cockrell singled to left and took two bases on a fielding error driving in Guerrero.

The Cajuns broke the game open in the bottom of the third as Landry tripled and scored on a throwing error by NMSU. Justin Bourque doubled to left-center which prompted a pitching change for the Aggies. J.T. Severe came in to face Morris who singled to center scoring Bourque. Ryan Core homered with Morris on base to give UL Lafayette a 7-2 lead.

Morris added a run in the bottom of the fifth with a solo homerun that made the score 8-2.

Aranda hit a homerun of his own in the top of the sixth before a Salazar offering plunked Balesteros. Davies doubled off the wall in center scoring Balesteros to cgut the Cajuns lead in half at 8-4.

Kraig Schambough came on to pitch in relief of Salazar and got the final out in the inning.

Brian Gausman came in to work in the bottom of the sixth and walked Coker on a full count. Coker advanced two bases on a wild pitch and a steal. Landry drove in Coker with a double to leftfield.

Davies and Monjaras singled to put runners on first and second with no outs in the top of the ninth. Keller singled to score a run for NMSU. Jason Rodriguez entered the game to play right field after Coker was injured on the play.

Louisiana would hold on to retire the last three in the game to complete the sweep.

The Cajuns will travel to Lake Charles Tuesday to play the McNeese State Cowboys in a 7:00 p.m. game.

LOUISIANA SI

[NewsCopy]

LOUISIANA Là - They’re not officially in first place in the Sun Belt Conference baseball standings, but nobody else in the league wants any part of Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns right now.

The rest of the conference woke up today to two more lopsided scores posted by the Cajuns in a surprisingly easy sweep of New Mexico State. In a 28-hour series compressed by weather threats, the hosts outscored the visiting Aggies by a convincing 33-10 after the teams entered the weekend all square in the league race.

Tony Robichaux’s squad has won 13 of its last 16 and has won its first three Sun Belt series. More importantly, the Cajuns have assumed an air of confidence, and it wasn’t just because the Easter bunny was walking around theField carrying a broom Saturday.

These guys expect to win. They expect to out-hit, out-pitch, out-defend, out-run and generally out-play whoever is wearing the other jerseys.

The most impressive thing is that they’re winning games a lot of different ways. A team that graduated some of its best arms has become solid on the mound. At the halfway point of the season, they already have more home runs and more stolen bases than they had all of last year. In 2003 the squad had 10 errorless games, and they have 15 this year.

The Cajuns have in one year gone from the Sun Belt’s worst hitting team to the league’s best. Average wise, admittedly, they’re second behind NMSU, but this weekend’s series showed in dramatic fashion how much the Aggies’ numbers are skewed by their launching pad of a home park.

The rest of the story

Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com

[NewsCopy]

Ragin' Cajuns roll to sweep

LOUISIANA Là — UL’s baseball team can’t even be stopped by Mother Nature, so what chance do common mortals have?

Especially when the Ragin’ Cajuns pound out 13 extra base hits, make all the defensive plays and get solid pitching for 18 innings.

The Cajuns and New Mexico State rolled their Sun Belt Conference weekend series back to a Saturday doubleheader in deference to expected rain today, but it was the Cajun squad that rained all over the visiting Aggies with 13-4 and 9-5 victories that gave UL Lafayette its first league sweep of the season.

“We challenged our guys to go from worriers to warriors this weekend,” said Cajun coach Tony Robichaux, “and they stepped up and got it done.”

Louisiana (22-9, 7-2 Sun Belt) added those victories to an 11-1 Friday win over an Aggie squad (24-12-1, 4-5) that entered the weekend tied with the Cajuns for third place in the Sun Belt race. The sweep, the first for the hosts since a road sweep of Arkansas State late last season, now has the Cajuns in first place nearing the halfway point of the conference season.

Ian Pecoraro and Jered Salazar had solid starting performances in picking up the two wins, but the Saturday sweep was all about offense. The Cajuns had six home runs, two triples and five doubles for the major part of a 24-hit attack against Aggie pitching.

“We had a hitter’s meeting Thursday,” said third baseman Dallas Morris, who had a home run in each game Saturday to give him 10 for the season. “We talked about what we needed to do, to give our pitchers some early leads and for us to get after their pitching.”

The rest of the story

Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com

[Turbine]

Originally posted by GoneGolfin
Standings in the Sun Belt:

Louisiana 7-2
Florida International 6-3
South Alabama 4-2
New Orleans 4-2
Western Kentucky 4-4
New Mexico State 4-5
Middle Tennessee 4-5
Arkansas-Little Rock 1-5
Arkansas State 1-7

Pending the result of the Western Kentucky - Arkansas State game.

Brian

[cajunreality]

Hey "newscopy".......what does Louisiana La. stand for? I take it you mean Louisiana Lafayette!

[El Sidonio]

Does anybody happen to know how much tickets to Tues. away game at McNeese cost? I might be takin a little afternoon road trip.

God Bless.

[NewsCopy]

LAKE CHARLES — Now that Louisiana's baseball team is the front-runner in the Sun Belt Conference, the target is squarely on the backs of the Ragin’ Cajuns.

Winning — 13 victories in their last 16 games — has made the Cajuns a marked team, especially heading into tonight’s contest against a McNeese State team that has struggled mightily over the last three weeks.

The Cowboys, who host the Cajuns at 7 p.m. at Cowboy Diamond, have lost eight of their last 10 outings including three weekend losses to Lamar in Southland Conference play. McNeese has slipped to 16-19 overall and 4-8 in the Southland.

The Cowboys’ third straight league series loss is in direct contrast to the Cajuns, who have won three straight conference series including a sweep of New Mexico State Friday and Saturday at Moore Field. The Cajuns (22-9, 7-2) vaulted into first place in the league as the only team to sweep its series.

“I like where this team is right now,” said Cajun coach Tony Robichaux. “The most important thing is that we played with focus all weekend. We hadn’t done that in some games, but this weekend we did a good job of staying focused and doing the things we need to do.”

Keeping that focus shouldn’t be a problem tonight even with the Cowboys’ losing mark. McNeese took a pair of wins over the Cajuns in mid-week games last year (4-3 and 8-7), and the Cowboys have won six of the last seven meetings on their home field.

Focus certainly won’t be a problem for Robichaux, who is in a position that’s probably unique in all of college baseball tonight. Robichaux played at both schools during his collegiate career, and has served as head coach at both institutions.

The rest of the story

Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com