Louisiana vs. Southeastern

[UL_Cajuns]

Congrats to SLU for whipping our ass. Give credit where credit is due. I know we gift wrapped some runs, but 11-4 is still an ass whopping.

[CajunRed]

_ I am going to do it. I am going to use the old cliche, "That's baseball".

Yeah, pitching staff was not exactly good tonight. Going into tonight's game, the pitchers that pitched had been on the mound a total of 2 inning this season. I will contribute the "wildness" to mound rust. To be honest, that is the only stat that really sticks out in this game. Again, I might be fooling myself, but I contribute that to mound rust.

We are 7 games into a 56 game season and our team is 5-2. Tonight's loss was to a team that is now 9-0. Regardless of competition, they are 9-0. We might not be happy with the way our team is performing but we need to hold judgment for a few more weeks/months. _

Our pitching is what lost the game for us... but I need to mention again that our hitting was not good. We left too many on and could not get any clutch hits. At one point we left the bases loaded when we still had a chance to steal one from them.

Lastly, they appeared to be a little bigger than us and were more comfortable and confident at the plate than us. That was strange to see -- a Southland conference team making OUR hitters look timid at times. I believe that is 3 games in a row (two last year, plus last night).

[CajunZ1]

_ I am going to do it. I am going to use the old cliche, "That's baseball".

Yeah, pitching staff was not exactly good tonight. Going into tonight's game, the pitchers that pitched had been on the mound a total of 2 inning this season. I will contribute the "wildness" to mound rust. To be honest, that is the only stat that really sticks out in this game. Again, I might be fooling myself, but I contribute that to mound rust.

We are 7 games into a 56 game season and our team is 5-2. Tonight's loss was to a team that is now 9-0. Regardless of competition, they are 9-0. We might not be happy with the way our team is performing but we need to hold judgment for a few more weeks/months. _

IMO, last night wasn't an example of "that's baseball." Last night was an example of really really really bad pitching efforts coupled with zero clutch hits.

I'm not saying we're a terrible team, or that the book is closed on what kind of team we are. But I do know that right now the Cajuns are not a tough team. Someone else said it well when they mentioned that these guys are used to being average, and winning is (hopefully) a learned behavior.

This weekend would be a great time to develop some toughness.

[CajunZ1]

Lastly, they appeared to be a little bigger than us and were more comfortable and confident at the plate than us. That was strange to see -- a Southland conference team making OUR hitters look timid at times. I believe that is 3 games in a row (two last year, plus last night). _

Good point. I've noticed this as well.

[CajunRed]

_ IMO, last night wasn't an example of "that's baseball." Last night was an example of really really really bad pitching efforts coupled with zero clutch hits.

I'm not saying we're a terrible team, or that the book is closed on what kind of team we are. But I do know that right now the Cajuns are not a tough team. Someone else said it well when they mentioned that these guys are used to being average, and winning is (hopefully) a learned behavior.

This weekend would be a great time to develop some toughness. _

As an eye witness to the game... I say "ditto" to that.

[CajunZ1]

_ As an eye witness to the game... I say "ditto" to that. _

Did you notice how weird the umps strike zone was? It was literally the biggest I've seen from an inside to outside perspective.

He was pretty consistent with it though, so no complaints.

[CajunRed]

_ Did you notice how weird the umps strike zone was? It was literally the biggest I've seen from an inside to outside perspective.

He was pretty consistent with it though, so no complaints. _

I noticed it too. My thoughts were that it was very big to begin with, particularly up and down. As the game went, though, he seemed to tighten it up.

I was just thinking -- if I would have been their coach last night, I would have told all hitters to crowd the plate. Instead of hitting 7 batters, they might have gotten us to hit 20!

[Ned Clampett]

Red, that is the way they play. They have been hit 24 times already this year.

[LSUTiger4RaginCajuns]

http://www.lionsports.net/coaches.as...&path=baseball

Someone in a bigger park is going to pick up this guy after this season.

[raginsaints]

_ Congrats to SLU for whipping our ass. Give credit where credit is due. I know we gift wrapped some runs, but 11-4 is still an ass whopping. _

More like we whooped our own asses. 9 hits and 1 error a piece. I'm not too worried. If we give up 13 free base runners we'll lose every time.

[HoustonCajun]

_ More like we whooped our own asses. 9 hits and 1 error a piece. I'm not too worried. If we give up 13 free base runners we'll lose every time. _

Success should be defined as winning the conference and/or going to a regional. UL's best baseball years were from 1997 - 2000 with 4 straight regional appearances including a super regional in 1999 and a CWS appearance in 2000. In the 9 years since then, we went to regionals 3 times and won only 1 SBC championship. The other years were mostly mediocre.

An interesting comparison is to basketball over the past 10 years. Both had 5 seasons of nearly .500 records with no post season appearances. In basketball, the 5 year period from 2000 to 2004 (Coach Evans) had 2 NIT and 2 NCAA appearances with 4, 20 win seasons. From 2005 - 2009 under Coach Lee, UL failed to have 1 winning season. In baseball, UL's record has been mostly up and down with no consistency one way or the other. There were 4 seasons hovering around .500; 2001 28-28, 2003 30-30, 2008 30-29, 2009 27-30. There were 3 good seasons in a row from 2005 49-17, 2006 39-20 & 2007 45-17 while 2002 had a 39-23 record and 2004 had a 34-23 record. There were 3 regional appearances spread out over that period in 2002, 2005 and 2007 with only the one SBC championship. Somewhat similar results but spread out much differently.

Who would have thought that our baseball program would be outrecruited and outplayed by Southeastern and that UL would lose to them 3 years in a row. Congrats to them for being a Top 30 team and undefeated. Based on our first 7 games, poor pitching, poor hitting and poor fielding are not a good combination. Are we in for a repeat of the past 2 seasons? It is too early to tell, but this weekend series with USM at home should be a good indicator. A look at the Top 25 teams each year has some pretty consistent teams year in and year out and they are not all BCS schools. I think many of us think of UL baseball as being at a much higher level than it actually is, especially over the past 2 years and starting this year. Will UL ever be able to return to the consistent baseball power it was during that 1997 - 2000 period? If not, why not? What will it take to get us there?

[raginsaints]

A new hitting coach? We have the best pitching in the conference every year.