BB Final: Louisiana 8, Tulane 7

[LifeTimeCajun]

It is always good to beat Tulane, but they are really bad. I watched UNO abuse them in a mid-week a few weeks ago. They are probably the worst team we've played not named Grambling.

I came here after South Al and said we needed to get better to be a good baseball club. People lost their minds. Since then, we've looked pedestrian across the board. Can't quite put my finger on it, but something just feels off compared to the beginning of the season. Theut being out? It matters, but I don't think it changes the makeup of the pitching staff as a whole. DeBo being out? JT is playing GREAT baseball since he's had more opportunities. Hammond struggling? Like I said on RR, he's been a bullpen arm. Maybe he's hitting a wall as a starter with arm fatigue. His last start apparently came with some personal distraction. Which I'll never hold against a player. But even before, something feels off with him.

Yes, 20 before 10 is great. But this is the worst first half schedule we've played in a longggg time. Not saying it doesn't matter, but it's something to consider when evaluating their ceiling.

In college baseball, you might be able to build a lineup with utility guys and have success, but you can not build a pitching staff with swing arms and consistently beat good hitting. Especially when you yank them around, with little to know communication on what their roles actually are. As Tony said over and over, pitchers are different creatures. You have to be able to manage that mentality.

And I think it's chicken _____ not to stand there and give a decent, professional postgame interview to Topham after you either lose or blow leads.

Theut being out matters on the weekends. Hes a difference maker. I considered him the X factor on this staff. I dont consider him being out being the reason we caughing up leads late in the game either. In those instances we have pitched serviceable up to those points in the game. Debo being out hasnt been an issue either. Offensively we have gotten comparable production from his replacement, and defensively he has been equally as good.

[JamesTheJeweler]

Put yourself in Tulane's shoes. Brutal way to lose. Much worse then the final being 7 to 1 or even 7 to 3. If you ever go to their board you will see how much they hate losing to us. I guess it is good to be hated. They are the ones who will do their best to forget what happened. Actually we now need them to start winning a few to help the RPI.

It's sad we're using the excuse of, "hey they feel worse than us." Can we just call it what it is? We're not a very good team right now. Period.

[babysitter]

This team has a lot of issues. Start on the offensive side. Way too many strike outs. That's just not acceptable. EIGHTEEN K's to App St. against no more than an average arm with a high ERA. That can never happen. We have got to be the only team in the country that had/has a leadoff hitter hitting below .160. Again, that can't happen. Sit the guy down, let him watch a few games and give him a chance to get his mind right for God's sake. This is ridiculous. How long are you going to continue to let a player hang himself ? It's not fair to the kid. We try and steal bases like a 9 year old travel ball team. Everybody gets a turn. I love aggressive base running but you have to have limits. I can't count how many innings we have run ourselves out of. It's getting old. Very old.

Pitching. I could write a damn thesis. We have a closer starting on Friday nights. I could stop right there. That tells you all you need to know. Last year we had 3 weekend starters that had been relievers their whole career here. Again, tells you all you need to know. What on earth makes our "recruiters" think that a kid from a JUCO that couldn't throw strikes will suddenly become a strike thrower here ? As far as pitchers who came from the portal, they're here because they weren't good enough to pitch where they came from. Again, should we expect them to be good here all of a sudden ? This program hasn't had a pitching staff since 2017. That's SIX YEARS AGO. Something isn't right. We're 29 games in and people are still trying to figure out what their roll is. It's unacceptable.

And for all of these people saying 20 wins before 10 losses is where we need to be, take off the rose colored glasses. Losing to Rice, High Point, McNeese and a series to App. St makes that 20 before 10 BS irrelevant. Again, mediocrity rears it's ugly head. There are SEVEN teams in this conference that have a higher RPI than UL. Our SOS sucks. We have 9 games between Troy, Coastal, and S. Miss. in conference. This team has a long way to go to even be on the same field with these teams currently. The only way the word "regional" should even be mentioned is after winning the conference tournament which quite frankly ain't happening.

As bright as the future looks from a position player standpoint with the likes Debarge, Robichaux, Stelly, Higgs, Yuhatz, Lejeune, Taylor, Zambo, Amadee...Without quality arms nothing will change. It's a damn shame. Something has to change.

[RAGINCAJUN11]

Being ____ed doesn't give you a right to act like that. Again, if Marlin did that, you'd all destroy him. Maybe the attitude of leadership is why this team is so up and down. Be a professional and stand there to field Top's questions.

I like coaches with emotion. Don't give me a coach that is politically correct and a robot. You don't think the Saban's of the world never done it? Don't think Tony ever did that?

He does his interview with the media on Monday's where he is "professional."

It's sports. It's an emotional game. And again, not that serious to complain about. Especially when maybe 25 people were listening on 103.3 post-game interview.

[CajunRage]

Empty at bats are killing this team. Strikeouts by our hitters and free bases by our pitchers.
We have faced maybe 3 "dudes" on the mound this year (and two were in one game against Campbell) and have 11 games with double digit strikeouts. That's not gonna cut it.

[RAGINCAJUN11]

Empty at bats are killing this team. Strikeouts by our hitters and free bases by our pitchers.
We have faced maybe 3 "dudes" on the mound this year (and two were in one game against Campbell) and have 11 games with double digit strikeouts. That's not gonna cut it.

Agree

[LifeTimeCajun]

Missing a center cut 90 mph fastball, in a fastball count, over and over and over again is confusing. I really feel like we put so much emphasis in swinging violent and hard that it takes away from the focus of contact and just driving the baseball. Its been the same way for 3 or 4 years now. Fortunately this season we have had more success and its overshadowed it for the most part. But its still an issue

[CajunStros]

We def need a true pitching coach.

I said that Thib wasn’t a real pitching coach a few weeks I got the season. I backed off when we stopped walking guys for a couple games. Well here we are half way through the season and we can’t hit the side of a barn sometimes.

[Dad04]

Missing a center cut 90 mph fastball, in a fastball count, over and over and over again is confusing. I really feel like we put so much emphasis in swinging violent and hard that it takes away from the focus of contact and just driving the baseball. Its been the same way for 3 or 4 years now. Fortunately this season we have had more success and its overshadowed it for the most part. But its still an issue

I spoke with a former all conf Cajun position player, played in the Alumni game last year and played pro ball. I told him he looked good in the field. "That stuff is easy. Hitting is really, really hard." was his comment.

[CajunStros]

He gave short answers because he was ____ed. As we all should be. It's not that serious. Let's move on.

Maybe he was mad at himself because he put a .156 batting avg in the three hole for a must win game if we want a chance at anything to do with RPI. We scored 8 runs and all but come on coach, what the F was that?


Edited to add: We won the game and dropped two places in RPI.

[RAGINCAJUN11]

Maybe he was mad at himself because he put a .156 batting avg in the three hole for a must win game if we want a chance at anything to do with RPI. We scored 8 runs and all but come on coach, what the F was that?

Haha that was my first thought when I saw the line up.

[CajunStros]

Haha that was my first thought when I saw the line up.

And went 0-4.

I get it, Deggs is trying to get him going. But batting third? LOL