With all the hype surrounding the final home weekend and all the high expectations for the next month, most coaches would be worried about a squad keeping its focus.

Tony Robichaux isn't one of them.

He knows the task his Ragin' Cajuns (42-11, 13-5 Sun Belt Conference) face with rapidly-improving Middle Tennessee (25-20, 9-8) in this weekend's league series. He knows his team has much to lose, not the least of which is first place in the league and a Top 20 ranking in every poll.

He knows that a staggering 16 seniors will wrap up their home careers in the three-game series, a number high enough that pregame activities will begin at 12:30 p.m., 30 minutes before first pitch Sunday.

Distractions? Plentiful. Worries? None.

"That goes back to having so many seniors," Robichaux said. "They've been around for some seasons that weren't successful, and they decided they weren't going to tolerate it."

That senior class has led the squad to a two-game lead in the loss column in the Sun Belt standings, and their goal will be to cement that slot beginning in tonight's 6:30 p.m. contest. The teams will play their second game Saturday at 2:05 p.m. prior to Sunday's 1 p.m. finale.

But it won't be nearly as easy as the records may indicate. Middle hasn't been swept in league play this year, has won its last two conference series 2-1 and is riding a streak of five wins in its last six games including mid-week wins over Lipscomband at Vanderbilt.

"They didn't play their best baseball early," Robichaux said, "but they are now. Pete (MT coach Steve Peterson) has had them hot and ready for the tournament every year, and we're getting to that time."

The Blue Raiders have been hot at the plate, recording 12 or more hits in all of those last six games and averaging nearly nine runs a game in that streak. MT leads the league defensively in Sun Belt play with only 19 errors in 17 conference games.

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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com