BB G1 Final: Louisiana 3, Southern Miss 2

[Cajunsmike]

And that win tonight was a Q3 win for the Cajuns.

Ridiculous.

Brian

Another example of how out dated the RPI system is. Is Debarge the best performer amongst all Cajun athletes in the 2023-24 academic year. I can't think of anyone who has been more clutch than he since sports competition began in August.

[Big Buds]

I was at festival. Didn’t look at it until we had 2 on in the 8th with DBo up. Put the phone away and just hoped.

nice

[GoneGolfin]

Another example of how out dated the RPI system is.

That is not the RPI ... that is the NCAA attempting to put lipstick on the RPI by introducing the Quartile metrics. These Q metrics are arbitrary and absurd.

Brian

[RaginScotsman]

Season-saving win

Said the same. If we lose tomorrow and win Sunday then that’s the saver. But it’s what it is tonight.

[ZoomZoom]

That is not the RPI ... that is the NCAA attempting to put lipstick on the RPI by introducing the Quartile metrics. These Q metrics are arbitrary and absurd.

Brian

It’s what they hide behind when either/or choices are made.

[RaginScotsman]

How was the crowd?

[Big Buds]

How was the crowd?

Not bad all things considered.

[Cajunrunner]

Just checking in after the fact.

We take the win. Our starter, Herrmann, kept us in striking distance for eight innings giving up only 2 runs on 3 hits. Fantastic.

Then we got the 3 run crooked inning.

In came LP in the 9th to go three up, three down with 2 Ks.

Is our record a bit inflated due to playing the more subpar part of the conference the first half the season? Probably. But this team is still good. We saw the back and forth vs. Coastal last weekend, and yes, we trailed for 7 1/2 innings this evening, but then won.

[GoneGolfin]

Rice just walked-off a decent UTSA team in the B10th on a 1-out safety squeeze. 9-8 final. This win (just like Tulane beating Wichita State tonight) helps the Cajuns. They may move past Southern Miss in the RPI rankings now.

Brian

[GoneGolfin]

Rice just walked-off a decent UTSA team in the B10th on a 1-out safety squeeze. 9-8 final. This win (just like Tulane beating Wichita State tonight) helps the Cajuns. They may move past Southern Miss in the RPI rankings now.

... and they did move past USM, up to #50.

Brian

[cajundiehard]

Said the same. If we lose tomorrow and win Sunday then that’s the saver. But it’s what it is tonight.

Now that we got tonight, let's take tomorrow's game and play loose for lagniappe Sunday! Beat 'em when they are down & keep 'em down!

[sportsfanatic21]

What needs to not be lost in tonight’s game is that Andrew Herrmann threw 40 pitches in the first 2 innings. That screams a 5 inning outing…at most.

BUT…he locked in and gave his team 8 innings, which led to Langevin only having to throw one inning, and 14 pitches.

He gave his team a chance to win tonight (and they rewarded him), but on top of that, Langevin will now be available either tomorrow or Sunday, which means he may have significantly contributed to potentially 2 wins this weekend.

It was just a fantastic performance.

And what can you say about Kyle Debarge? Saturday game against Tulane, the Cajuns were down 3-0 in the bottom of the 9th, and about to fall to 6-8 on the season AND losers of 2 of the first 3 weekend series (all at home). He hit a walk off grand slam to win that one, basically saving a season that could have completely gone off the rails.

Fast forward to tonight, staring 3 losses in 4 games square in the face, and following just a TERRIBLE loss Wednesday night, with nothing going right offensively all night, and he hits a 3-run bomb to essentially, yet again, save the season from going off the rails.

As good as he is, and he’s one of the best few that has ever played here, the clutch gene he has is just invaluable.

[GoneGolfin]

What needs to not be lost in tonight’s game is that Andrew Herrmann threw 40 pitches in the first 2 innings. That screams a 5 inning outing…at most.

BUT…he locked in and gave his team 8 innings, which led to Langevin only having to throw one inning, and 14 pitches.

He gave his team a chance to win tonight (and they rewarded him), but on top of that, Langevin will now be available either tomorrow or Sunday, which means he may have significantly contributed to potentially 2 wins this weekend.

It was just a fantastic performance.

And what can you say about Kyle Debarge? Saturday game against Tulane, the Cajuns were down 3-0 in the bottom of the 9th, and about to fall to 6-8 on the season AND losers of 2 of the first 3 weekend series (all at home). He hit a walk off grand slam to win that one, basically saving a season that could have completely gone off the rails.

Fast forward to tonight, staring 3 losses in 4 games square in the face, and following just a TERRIBLE loss Wednesday night, with nothing going right offensively all night, and he hits a 3-run bomb to essentially, yet again, save the season from going off the rails.

As good as he is, and he’s one of the best few that has ever played here, the clutch gene he has is just invaluable.

With the open base, I was thinking that Coach Ostrander was going to give Debarge the intentional pass. Yes, there was only one out and it would have loaded the bases. But it is Kyle Debarge ... and it also would have setup a force at home and a potential double-play. I wonder if Ostrander had a chance to do it over, if he would he have decided to put Debarge on first base.

Meanwhile, the pitching is setting up nicely for the Cajuns. I do not expect to fully hold this USM team down (unless LP is out there). But our pitching can keep us right there. Meanwhile, the offense will have its chances on Saturday and Sunday. USM just lost a key middle reliever last Saturday against ULM (Will Armistead), so they are missing important depth. Niko Mazza (formerly their Friday guy) had been struggling for several weeks, but threw well against ULM last Sunday. Sivley has been their best relief arm, but has been struggling in recent outings, not just tonight. He poured gasoline on the 7th inning fire against ULM last Sunday, paving the way for the loss. The Cajuns will see a decent arm in JB Middleton at some point in the series. But there are a lot of hittable arms that USM will put on the hill. The offense needs to take the momentum and put doubt in USM's heads.

Brian

[Big Buds]

With the open base, I was thinking that Coach Ostrander was going to give Debarge the intentional pass. Yes, there was only one out and it would have loaded the bases. But it is Kyle Debarge ... and it also would have setup a force at home and a potential double-play. I wonder if Ostrander had a chance to do it over, if he would he have decided to put Debarge on first base.

Brian

I was thinking the same thing…I’m sure he was too.

[cajundiehard]

What needs to not be lost in tonight’s game is that Andrew Herrmann threw 40 pitches in the first 2 innings. That screams a 5 inning outing…at most.

BUT…he locked in and gave his team 8 innings, which led to Langevin only having to throw one inning, and 14 pitches.

He gave his team a chance to win tonight (and they rewarded him), but on top of that, Langevin will now be available either tomorrow or Sunday, which means he may have significantly contributed to potentially 2 wins this weekend.

It was just a fantastic performance.

And what can you say about Kyle Debarge? Saturday game against Tulane, the Cajuns were down 3-0 in the bottom of the 9th, and about to fall to 6-8 on the season AND losers of 2 of the first 3 weekend series (all at home). He hit a walk off grand slam to win that one, basically saving a season that could have completely gone off the rails.

Fast forward to tonight, staring 3 losses in 4 games square in the face, and following just a TERRIBLE loss Wednesday night, with nothing going right offensively all night, and he hits a 3-run bomb to essentially, yet again, save the season from going off the rails.

As good as he is, and he’s one of the best few that has ever played here, the clutch gene he has is just invaluable.

The other thing about that Tulane walk-off 3-run bomb (not grand slam... ;-) )... he only gets that chance because Yuhasz reached on a would-be game ending strike-out that got by the catcher... Lafleur followed that w/ a first pitch single... to set the stage for Debo's heroics...