Opponent: Miami Baseball Opens 2005 Season At Mardi Gras Ball Tournament
THE BOYS OF SPRING GET STARTED EARLY: Baseball season has finally hit Miami University as the RedHawks open up their 2005 season this weekend at the Mardi Gras Ball Tournament in Lafayette, La. Louisiana Lafayette is the host institution as the RedHawks will face Texas State, Marist College, and the host Ragin' Cajuns.
HISTORY IN SEASON OPENERS: Miami is 54-35-1 all-time in season openers and is 7-3 in its last 10. Last season, the RedHawks knocked off Florida, 9-8, on opening day. Keith Weiser (Hamilton, Ohio) pitched 1.2 innings of scoreless relief to pick up the win over the No. 20 Gators. He struck out three of the seven batters he faced in earning his first collegiate victory. John Slone (Cincinnati, Ohio) had three hits for the Red and White while Paul Frietch (Cincinnati, Ohio) drove in four runs.
SEASON OPENERS ON THE ROAD: Fifty-four of Miami's 90 season openers have been played on the road, and in those contests the Red and White has posted a 29-24-1 record. The last four years the RedHawks have opened on the road and have twice returned to Oxford with a victory in hand.
SCOUTING THE LOUISIANA LAFAYETTE RAGIN' CAJUNS: The Louisiana Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns come onto the weekend with a record of 7-0. They knocked off St. Johns, Southern and Northwestern State last weekend as part of the Louisiana Lafayette Invitational. In the tournament finale, versus Northwestern State, senior lefthander Austin Faught tossed eight innings of two-hit baseball in a 4-0 victory.
Junior outfielder John McCarthey is batting .458 to lead the Ragin' Cajuns' at the plate. Senior first baseman Phillip Hawke has driven in eight runs to lead the team, and also has one of UL Lafayette's two home runs. As a team, the Ragin' Cajuns have a .318 batting average and have 47 runs batted in compared to 16 by their opponents.
On the mound, Faught and senior righty Kevin Ardoin both have 2-0 records to start the year and post matching 0.64 earned run averages. Opposing hitters have a .143 batting average versus Faught while Ardoin has 14 strikeouts in 14 innings of work.
Tony Robichaux is in his 11th season at UL Lafayette and won the 600th game of his coaching career on Feb. 20 with the 4-0 win over Northwestern State. In his 11-plus seasons with the Ragin' Cajuns, he is 357-245.
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