The Book: 2004 Baseball

[Oldman]

come one and all and get all of the up to date information on ragin cajuns baseball.

date: may 10, 04
time: 11:30
place: convention center conference room

here the latest on the baseball team and conference baseball, stats, conf. ranking, who did what to whom, from coach Rob. enjoy a meal and meet some of your friends and maybe make new ones. here is hoping you will be able to join us. GEAUX CAJUNS.

[Oldman]

Oh! forgot......coach will answer any questions you might have.

[Turbine]

Wish I could go, it sounds like a lot of fun.

[RednWhitex8]

Give us the skinny please.

[NewsCopy]

NSU   Tigue Moore Field   Louisiana 3   Louisiana did at the end what it had failed to to all game long. Take advantage of NSU mistakes.   4

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

LOUISIANA La. - The Cajuns pulled off a ninth inning rally, and got some help from the Nicholls defense, to take tonight’s game away Colonels by a final count of 4-3 at Moore Field. The Cajuns (30-17) picked up their fourth win in as many tries against Southland opponents going back to last Wednesday’s 10-0 downing of SLU.

Nicholls closer Dustin Roddy issued a walk to Micah Cockrell to start the inning before Adam Massiatte reached first on a fielder’s choice. Pinch hitter Brad Saloom doubled down the line in right on a ball that was initially hit foul but caromed off the glove of NSU first baseman Jake Ritchie. Ryan Core drew a walk to load the bases for Justin Merendino. Merendino was credited with the game tying RBI sacrifice fly to center. Brad Saloom came around to score the winning run when an attempt to throw him out at third was muscled into left field.

Patrick Green (4-1) got the win going the final three innings allowing one hit while fanning five. Green saw action after coming on in relief of Brandt Sanders who got tonight’s start.

Roddy (3-2) took the loss allowing the final two runs for the Cajuns on one hit while walking two.

Merendino smoked a double to left and took third on an infield groundout to open the bottom of the first for the Cajuns. Phillip Hawke walked on four straight offerings, but an infield pop up and a fielder’s choice got Colonel’s starter Mike Prejean out of the jam.

Cockrell singled up the middle to start the inning. Cockrell advanced on a wild pitch before John Coker reached on an error. Coker swiped second and Merendino drew a walk to load the bases. Prejean caught Jason Rodriguez gazing at a called strike three to escape the inning without giving up a run.

The Colonels struck first on a Michael Roberts single that drove in Jeremy Helton who walked.

Hawke walked before moving to second on a Rhett Buras single to right. Josh Landry advanced the runners to second and third with a sacrifice bunt. The two would be stranded on base as Prejean again retired the next two in order as the Colonels held on to their 1-0 lead.

Helton drove in the Colonel’s second run in the top of the fourth with a sacrifice fly to right scoring Bubba Bell who singled and took second on a groundout to short. Tony Ruiz singled, advancing Bell to third, and stole second.

Tony Ruiz scored on a flare that fell into short center field for a double off the bat of Michael Roberts.

Jeff Morgan came on in relief of Sanders to register the last out of the inning.

Cockrell put the Cajuns on the board with a sacrifice fly ball to right scoring Buras who drew a one-out walk before taking third on a Landry single.

Mark Fernandez came in to deal for the Colonel’s and plunked Coker with the first pitch he threw. Coker swiped second and took third when the ensuing throw went into center field. Merendino took first on a catcher’s interference call. Hawke walked for the third time on the night to load the bases before Fernandez stranded the three with a fly out to put down the UL uprising.

The new hurler for the Colonels, Robbie Hebert, hit Coker and walked Bourque to start the bottom of the eighth. Merendino drug a bunt single to the third baseman to load the pads. Hawke picked up the RBI with a base on balls pulling the Cajuns to within one.

The Cajuns will travel to Natchitoches tomorrow to face the Northwestern State Demons in a 6:30 p.m. game before returning home for the final home stand of the season this weekend. Louisiana-Lafayette is scheduled to take on Sun Belt Conference rival Arkansas State in a three game series to closeout the home schedule.

LOUISIANA SI

Pinch hitter Brad Saloom made his only chance count in the 9th as he doubles down the line in right off the glove of Nicholls 1st baseman.

[Turbine]

Going back to 2000
try your hand at
Ragin' Cajun Baseball Trivia

[NewsCopy]

Ragin' Cajuns enjoy comeback

LOUISIANA La. — Over the course of a season, baseball teams will on occasion get undeserved wins.

Louisiana got one of those here Monday night, thanks to a wild ninth inning that provided a 4-3 victory over Nicholls State, but the win didn’t fool coach Tony Robichaux.

“We didn’t deserve to win,” Robichaux said after his squad matched its victory total from the 2003 season. “This wasn’t a good win. You can’t sugarcoat this. We had a lot of things go bad, and I can’t accept that.”

Maybe his squad felt the same way, since the Colonels kept trying to give Monday’s game away and the Cajuns wouldn’t accept it until scoring three runs on only two hits in the final two innings.

The most bizarre of those runs came in the bottom of the ninth when two Nicholls State mistakes on the final play allowed UL (30-17) to escape with its fourth straight win.

The Colonels led 3-2 and brought in closer Dustin Roddy to pitch the ninth inning, and Roddy walked leadoff hitter Micah Cockrell before gunning Cockrell down at second on Adam Massiatte’s bunt attempt. Pinch hitter Brad Saloom rifled a shot down the right-field line that ticked off first baseman Jake Ritchie’s glove and left the tying and winning runs at third and second.

Pinch hitter Ryan Core drew a walk to load the bases and Justin Merendino lifted a two-strike fly ball to center field. Josh Thomas’ throw to the plate was high and sailed over catcher David Tano’s head as Massiatte scored the tying run.

Roddy was backing up the play, but his throw to third to try to catch Saloom was over third baseman Jeremy Helton’s head and into left field and Saloom scampered home with the winning run.

In all, the Colonels committed five errors, their pitchers walked nine and hit two, and Tano was called once for catcher’s interference. So how was Nicholls (17-27) ahead virtually the entire game?

The rest of the story

Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com

[NewsCopy]

LOUISIANA La. — There’s a line in John Fogarty’s ode to baseball, “Centerfield,” that describes a player “rounding third, and headed for home.”

That’s where Louisiana’s squad finds itself this weekend, when the Cajuns play their next-to-last Sun Belt Conference series and welcomes Arkansas State to Moore Field for the final home games of the 2004 season.

It is in effect a “must-win” situation for the Cajuns (30-17, 10-7 Sun Belt) if they hope to win the conference’s regular-season title. The Cajuns will be league champions if they sweep their final six league games, but if they don’t win out they’ll need help to claim the league crown.

“You always want to finish strong,” said Cajun coach Tony Robichaux, whose team goes to South Alabama next weekend to close the regular season. “It’s in front of us. You always want to control your own destiny, and you don’t want to hope that other people can do your work.”

The weekend’s also huge for Arkansas State (24-24, 5-13 Sun Belt), but for a different reason. The Indians are ninth and last in the league standings with two weekends to go (hosting Florida International next weekend), and only eight of the league’s teams advance to the Sun Belt Tournament May 26-29 in Mobile, Ala.

ASU has to make up either two games on Arkansas-Little Rock or three games on Western Kentucky in the final two weekends to secure a tournament berth.

“We’ve had opportunities to put ourselves in much better position,” said Indian coach Keith Kessinger. “We’ve had four straight chances to win on Sunday and win a series, and four straight times we’ve lost. We’re not in very good shape to get in the tournament right now, but our guys aren’t worried about that. We’re just trying to improve and play better.”

“Sometimes that’s when teams are the most dangerous,” Robichaux said. “They have nothing to lose and we have everything to lose. They can come in and play loose, and for us every pitch and every at-bat matters. We have to overcome that and handle that.”

The rest of the story

Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com

[Turbine]

Or perhaps I should say, what you are not missing.

[RedBug58]

Where is that indoor practice facility when ya need it!!

[Turbine]

The Ragin Cajuns lose game 1 stranding 13 runners, 6 in the last 3 innings, all 6 in scoring position.

This after opening the game early with a 7-0 lead . . .

grrrrrr

[DieHard1280]

AAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!

I guess that pretty much ruins the Cajuns chances to win the Sun Belt regular season title. How in the heck did they give up that many runs?