BB G3 Final: Louisiana 14, Troy 13

[Dad04]

This is a top 4-5 conference in the country. If you’re any good, the last few weekends should all be HUGE games. And that’s exactly what’s happening. There are 4 teams with a shot at the regular season title with 3 weeks left. This is the fun part!

So much better than playing out the string wishing the next game meant anything.

This is how you know the school has made good decisions on leadership.

[Policarp]

Had work/family commitments and missed a hell of a day......geez

We have to play with hair on fire offensively rest of year
...... our pitching was solid mid year and carried team.

Whatever mojo our staff had is gone.. I get the small ballpark excuse.....but.... .true for entire staff last 3 weeks 1) strikeouts are down, 2) walks /HBP are up.

Also coaching staff has done a good job of limiting pitch counts and appearances. Rarely has any starter reached 120 pitches, rarely has any reliever done 5-6 innings over an entire week. No one should be tired.. Yet it sure seems like they are tired

[GoneGolfin]

Cajuns don’t play at App this season, so they have now played a series at the 3 of the 4 best hitter’s parks in the conference (Texas St, Coastal, and Troy) and will still be either 1st or 2nd in the league in ERA.

Precisely what I have been saying. These parks are a challenge to pitchers.

There’s a reason those teams have high ERAs and then come at you with guys that have dominant stuff and leave you wondering how their numbers are what they are.

Bingo. And it confuses even more when you are accustomed to your own pitchers holding serve, but get roughed up playing in places such as Troy.

That said, it also inflates the hell out of their offensive numbers. Can you imagine what Debo’s stats would look like if he played 35-40 games in one of those parks instead of The Tigue? Or how many HRs Lafleur, Taylor, Higgs, etc would have?

I doubt it will happen, even with a guy like the Troy catcher leading the country in RBIs (although it happened last year when Troy’s Shane Lewis had 27 HRs), but if Kyle Debarge isn’t the SBC Player of the Year this season…they may as well stop giving out the award.

I agree ... it will not happen. I remember getting frustrated by New Mexico State players filling up the all-conference slots because they played in a launching pad, even though they could not play defense to save their lives. Their road #'s were significantly down.

I also remember a good Cajun pitching staff getting roughed up there ... and seem to recall Kevin Ardoin struggling there in what had been a POY type year, but struggled mightily in Las Cruces.

I’d venture to say he’d probably be hitting .375+ with close to 25 HRs right now. Same thing with Roccaforte in 2022. It makes an incredible difference.

I agree.

Also, Roccaforte was launching them in the San Marcos series his sophomore year. Balls that looked like mid-depth LF flyouts, sailing onto the softball field.

[GoneGolfin]

Had work/family commitments and missed a hell of a day......geez

We have to play with hair on fire offensively rest of year
...... our pitching was solid mid year and carried team.

Whatever mojo our staff had is gone.. I get the small ballpark excuse.....but.... .true for entire staff last 3 weeks 1) strikeouts are down, 2) walks are up.

Exactly what you would expect playing in a hitter's park.

Brian

[CajunT]

Cajuns don’t play at App this season, so they have now played a series at the 3 of the 4 best hitter’s parks in the conference (Texas St, Coastal, and Troy) and will still be either 1st or 2nd in the league in ERA.

There’s a reason those teams have high ERAs and then come at you with guys that have dominant stuff and leave you wondering how their numbers are what they are.

That said, it also inflates the hell out of their offensive numbers. Can you imagine what Debo’s stats would look like if he played 35-40 games in one of those parks instead of The Tigue? Or how many HRs Lafleur, Taylor, Higgs, etc would have?

I doubt it will happen, even with a guy like the Troy catcher leading the country in RBIs (although it happened last year when Troy’s Shane Lewis had 27 HRs), but if Kyle Debarge isn’t the SBC Player of the Year this season…they may as well stop giving out the award.

I’d venture to say he’d probably be hitting .375+ with close to 25 HRs right now. Same thing with Roccaforte in 2022. It makes an incredible difference.

I agree with 99% of what you have posted here. Here is my point, regardless of the ballpark you play in, if you are pitching to the system you have in place and have been successful through the season, it doesn't matter what ballpark you are playing in. If you are hitting your spots, not walking batters, hitting batters and playing good defense behind the pitcher you will have a chance to win. Sure, the statistics are elevated in those parks, especially when you lift the ball, and the wind is blowing in the right direction. But that has nothing to do with missing the zone, hitting batters and hanging pitches after falling behind in the count.

This team has traveled to two offensive parks in the last three weeks the pitching didn't travel well. Giving up 37 runs in a three-game serious is absolutely terrible. Sorry, there is no way to excuse it.

[GoneGolfin]

I agree with 99% of what you have posted here. Here is my point, regardless of the ballpark you play in, if you are pitching to the system you have in place and have been successful through the season, it doesn't matter what ballpark you are playing in. If you are hitting your spots, not walking batters, hitting batters and playing good defense behind the pitcher you will have a chance to win. Sure, the statistics are elevated in those parks, especially when you lift the ball, and the wind is blowing in the right direction. But that has nothing to do with missing the zone, hitting batters and hanging pitches after falling behind in the count.

I understand the point you are trying to make. But I do not agree with the above part. You may hit just as many spots in that ballpark as you do when you are at home (also make the equivalent # of mistakes). So from a command standpoint, you are the same. But it is the penalty that is paid when you are just off of that spot. That penalty may simply be a routine fly out at home (or some other ball park). But you may pay the price in a ball park such as Troy's (a normal out to RF is off of the wall ... or over the fence). This also forces the pitchers to be finer than what they normally would be (including more pressure) ... resulting in more walks.

Brian

[sportsfanatic21]

I agree with 99% of what you have posted here. Here is my point, regardless of the ballpark you play in, if you are pitching to the system you have in place and have been successful through the season, it doesn't matter what ballpark you are playing in. If you are hitting your spots, not walking batters, hitting batters and playing good defense behind the pitcher you will have a chance to win. Sure, the statistics are elevated in those parks, especially when you lift the ball, and the wind is blowing in the right direction. But that has nothing to do with missing the zone, hitting batters and hanging pitches after falling behind in the count.

This team has traveled to two offensive parks in the last three weeks the pitching didn't travel well. Giving up 37 runs in a three-game serious is absolutely terrible. Sorry, there is no way to excuse it.

Like you, I agree with a whole lot of this.

I will say that this Troy team is also just on a crazy heater right now. Plus the fact that the game got away from them Friday night and some guys that typically wouldn’t be out there got beat up pretty good. Christie gave up 4 but 3 of them while he was in the dugout (if I remember right), which means 10 runs scored with guys out there that aren’t usually out there on weekends.

And had Fluno thrown the 9th, today would have looked a whole lot different.

Troy scoring runs like they did against Langevin…sometimes you gotta just give credit to the opponent. Thats a damn good offensive team. And he got left out there longer than he probably should have. But it’s hard to move on from your best option so I certainly get it.

[sportsfanatic21]

I understand the point you are trying to make. But I do not agree with the above part. You may hit just as many spots in that ballpark as you do when you are at home (also make the equivalent # of mistakes). So from a command standpoint, you are the same. But it is the penalty that is paid when you are just off of that spot. That penalty may simply be a routine fly out at home (or some other ball park). But you may pay the price in a ball park such as Troy's (a normal out to RF is off of the wall ... or over the fence). This also forces the pitchers to be finer than what they normally would be ... resulting in more walks.

Brian

Also an excellent point.

[CajunT]

I understand the point you are trying to make. But I do not agree with the above part. You may hit just as many spots in that ballpark as you do when you are at home (also make the equivalent # of mistakes). So from a command standpoint, you are the same. But it is the penalty that is paid when you are just off of that spot. That penalty may simply be a routine fly out at home (or some other ball park). But you may pay the price in a ball park such as Troy's (a normal out to RF is off of the wall ... or over the fence). This also forces the pitchers to be finer than what they normally would be ... resulting in more walks.

Brian

Brian,

We can agree to disagree. Again, I understand how that parks plays. But, I saw pitchers getting behind in counts all weekend, hitting batters, walking batters and critical errors behind them at times. That my friend has nothing to do with the ballpark and everything to do with execution. That was the worst display of Cajun pitching I have witnessed in a few years. Tip your hat to some of the pitches they were able to drive this weekend, but a number of those runs were self-inflicted.

The good news is the Cajuns still sit in first. But the way this staff has been beaten around at Troy and Coastal, I'm not overly optimistic about playing Georgia Southern.

[Dad04]

Also an excellent point.

Yes. Some lazy fly balls close to the track at the Tigue are not playable at Troy.

The Troy starter Grayson has decent stats, Ks, BB, WHIP .246 Batting avg against. His ERA was 6.75 before the game. That kid hits his spots. 1st team All Sun Belt 2023. Hits his spots and got lit up this year for a lot of runs and actually pitched well.