BB Final: Louisiana 15, SLU 5

[lcitsh]

I wouldn't say that loss helps the Cajuns... Cajuns are weighted 3x vs. ULM and 2x vs Tech. It's slight/just one game... but it would have been better for ULM to win... ;-) so I wouldn't say the Tech win helps the Cajuns.

Granted, the mathematics may not be completely on our side in this case, as our home loss to Tech counterbalances the road win, but, to me, a Quad 2 win looks better than 3 Quad 4 wins. Another way to look at it, even though there is no such thing as a good loss, playing someone is Quad 3 is still better than someone in Quad 4.

[RaginDave]

If you watch any college baseball, you will see that this staff is downright impressive. The depth is sick, and this is the type of staff that is built to go a long way in both tournament and regional play. You have 3 starters whose numbers aer 1.90, 1.91 and 2.20 ERA's. I would challenge you to find Friday, Saturday, Sunday guys with those numbers anywhere in the country. Now bullpen, Blake Marshall 1.80, LP 2.87, "THE HAMMER 2.95, Cash Money 3.18, Christie 3.25, Etheridge 3.54. That is top 9, but wait.....Martinez when control is good is nasty and by the way even with his struggles his ERA is only 4.60, still very good in college baseball and he is your #10 guy. McGehee might be working out the kinks as his last start looked pretty good at 5.85, that is 11 pitchers who can give you quality innings.

Here is my 1 concern and it is not a big one, but the only thing I can even remotely see as an issue with this staff and that is who can go out and get you a start as a #4 or #5 guy. That is usually not an issue but becomes one if you fall to the losers' bracket in the SBC or Regional play. I think CMD has been hoping the two BM's would take that role (Blake Marshall or Blake McGehee) but both have struggled at times. Now the flip side of that is that you just throw the pen at people as your #4 starter, instead of going with a starter you go with an opener and then throw Johnny all pen as your #4 or #5 guy. That is where the Cajuns can shine because of that depth in the pen.

Oh I forgot to mention because he has only pitched 1/3 of an inning in 1 game, but the staff really likes a guy by the name of JR Tollet who is a freshman and who is battling back from injury, if and this is a big if....he can get it figured out (and I do believe we will see him out of the pen tonight) he would give you another quality arm to put in the mix. Look at his HS numbers. A 4-year letter winner and 3-time Class 5A All-state selection at Ruston High School. 1st team All-State honors as a sophomore and named 2-5A Pitcher of the year in 2021. In that year he was 9-2 with a 1.05 ERA and 83 strikeouts in 67 innings. CMD thinks he could be a top end bullpen guy. Murphy Brooks and Brendan Moody are two guys who while they have struggled are both capable of giving you some help, if Brendan Moody, Murphy Brooks and JR Tollet are your #12, 13 and 14 options and those guys are your emergency options for a batter or an inning, one coming off a near death experience, one coming back from a major injury as is a true freshman and the other is Brendan Moody, I think you might be alright.

How nasty would this staff be if Dylan Theut was healthy.

Again, from all indications, I think we might see some Tollet tonight out of the pen and I am hoping he can work himself into being a backend pen guy for us and that just makes us even a little bit better.

[sportsfanatic21]

If you watch any college baseball, you will see that this staff is downright impressive. The depth is sick, and this is the type of staff that is built to go a long way in both tournament and regional play. You have 3 starters whose numbers aer 1.90, 1.91 and 2.20 ERA's. I would challenge you to find Friday, Saturday, Sunday guys with those numbers anywhere in the country. Now bullpen, Blake Marshall 1.80, LP 2.87, "THE HAMMER 2.95, Cash Money 3.18, Christie 3.25, Etheridge 3.54. That is top 9, but wait.....Martinez when control is good is nasty and by the way even with his struggles his ERA is only 4.60, still very good in college baseball and he is your #10 guy. McGehee might be working out the kinks as his last start looked pretty good at 5.85, that is 11 pitchers who can give you quality innings.

Here is my 1 concern and it is not a big one, but the only thing I can even remotely see as an issue with this staff and that is who can go out and get you a start as a #4 or #5 guy. That is usually not an issue but becomes one if you fall to the losers' bracket in the SBC or Regional play. I think CMD has been hoping the two BM's would take that role (Blake Marshall or Blake McGehee) but both have struggled at times. Now the flip side of that is that you just throw the pen at people as your #4 starter, instead of going with a starter you go with an opener and then throw Johnny all pen as your #4 or #5 guy. That is where the Cajuns can shine because of that depth in the pen.

Oh I forgot to mention because he has only pitched 1/3 of an inning in 1 game, but the staff really likes a guy by the name of JR Tollet who is a freshman and who is battling back from injury, if and this is a big if....he can get it figured out (and I do believe we will see him out of the pen tonight) he would give you another quality arm to put in the mix. Look at his HS numbers. A 4-year letter winner and 3-time Class 5A All-state selection at Ruston High School. 1st team All-State honors as a sophomore and named 2-5A Pitcher of the year in 2021. In that year he was 9-2 with a 1.05 ERA and 83 strikeouts in 67 innings. CMD thinks he could be a top end bullpen guy. Murphy Brooks and Brendan Moody are two guys who while they have struggled are both capable of giving you some help, if Brendan Moody, Murphy Brooks and JR Tollet are your #12, 13 and 14 options and those guys are your emergency options for a batter or an inning, one coming off a near death experience, one coming back from a major injury as is a true freshman and the other is Brendan Moody, I think you might be alright.

How nasty would this staff be if Dylan Theut was healthy.

Again, from all indications, I think we might see some Tollet tonight out of the pen and I am hoping he can work himself into being a backend pen guy for us and that just makes us even a little bit better.

Some really good points made here. And man, Theut on this staff would just be another hammer in the toolbox. I cant wait to see him back out there next year.

Anyone who watched Tollett’s debut saw what he brings. Crazy arm-side and downward run on his fastball/sinker and what looked to be a pretty good slider. He came on to make his debut deep in the soup and got a huge out. Gave up a couple singles to start the next inning and got taken out. Those two guys came around to score in the dreaded situation of “giving up runs while you’re sitting in the dugout”. I hope we get to see some more of him, possibly tonight. Remember….as good as Chase Morgan has become, his first two outings this (also his freshman) season weren’t great.

Finally, while Brendan Moody got beat up last night, he’s a guy that is capable of helping this team. This is a kid that made multiple (effective) weekend starts last season, and at other times was in the closer’s role. While his season stats this year look bad, and there is certainly some combustibility there, he’s had some nice outings.

He’s made 7 appearances. In 5 of those 7, he’s thrown a total of 6 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing 5 hits with 1 walk and 5 strikeouts.

He got knocked around by Houston at Minute Maid and then again last night, but with someone else on the ready, just in case, sending him out there with a better than 50/50 chance of him being effective just adds to the depth of the staff.

[Jacob81]

Per Warren Nolan stats. Cajuns 5th in country at 3.9 runs allowed a game. 3rd in country in hits at 6.7.

.1 hits behind duke for 2nd.
.5 behind Arkansas for 1st.

.3 runs behind 2nd A&M
1.0 run behind Arkansas 1st

[GoneGolfin]

Has anyone heard whether or not SLU might be throwing Stuprich (far and away their #1) tonight ... given that SLU has the weekend off?

Brian

[Jacob81]

Has anyone heard whether or not SLU might be throwing Stuprich (far and away their #1) tonight ... given that SLU has the weekend off?

Brian

Jay walker just said on the radio that he expects to see their weekend guys tonight. Should be a much different game. Maybe more like the Marshall series.

[sportsfanatic21]

Has anyone heard whether or not SLU might be throwing Stuprich (far and away their #1) tonight ... given that SLU has the weekend off?

Brian

Kind of a scheduling faux pas playing them twice the week we go to Coastal AND they don’t even play this weekend.

Tonight will be a tough one.

[Dad04]

Per Warren Nolan stats. Cajuns 5th in country at 3.9 runs allowed a game. 3rd in country in hits at 6.7.

.1 hits behind duke for 2nd.
.5 behind Arkansas for 1st.

.3 runs behind 2nd A&M
1.0 run behind Arkansas 1st

and somebody whines about pitching depth...SMH

[Jacob81]

I heard or read but didn’t confirm la tech threw weekend guys against us before the non conference Arizona series. If so that’s 2 trap game situations 2 weeks in a row to try and overcome.

[Jacob81]

and somebody whines about pitching depth...SMH

I guess we could strive to be Arkansas good….

[Jacob81]

and somebody whines about pitching depth...SMH

Also 155 in scoring offense and 94 in hits a game. Guess that reflects how much we get put out on the basepaths.

[zeppelincajun]

This is our 3rd opponent this year who is either having off weekend (SLU and McNeese) or a nonconference series in the middle of conference play (Tech). McNeese’s bye weekend wasn’t when they played us. Just curious if anyone knows anything about these situations. Seems like strange scheduling.