Is it time for a change?

[Cajunsmike]

I don't think a change at the top is needed. BUT if i'm not mistaken, Robe is the pitching coach correct? Maybe we need to try getting a pitching coach. Our pitching seems to be the downfall of our team. Starters and bullpen were inconsistent. We never had a dominent starter all season. Why not try having a pitching coach to come in and spend all of his time with the pitchers. Instead of having a head coach playing double duty. I could be way off base with this but just an idea.

I disagree that pitching was the downfall. We were near the top of the conference in ERA this season. Unfortunately we were near the bottom in batting. What really killed us was being in the lower half in fielding. Many of those errors occurred at crucial times. The hitting did improve in the last week of the season except for the last game. Pitching did fall apart in the 2nd to last game but I don't panic in that regard when I look at the overall season on the mound.

[ULtimateCajun]

_ I disagree that pitching was the downfall. We were near the top of the conference in ERA this season. Unfortunately we were near the bottom in batting. What really killed us was being in the lower half in fielding. Many of those errors occurred at crucial times. The hitting did improve in the last week of the season except for the last game. Pitching did fall apart in the 2nd to last game but I don't panic in that regard when I look at the overall season on the mound. _

I stand corrected. I do agree with our fielding, that seems to have been the problem the past two seasons. too many errors

[TuffGuy84]

_ I stand corrected. I do agree with our fielding, that seems to have been the problem the past two seasons. too many errors _

Mental Toughness, this cannot be stressed enough, is the reason for so many errors. I don't know for sure how many times, but I can guarantee that multiple times this year, one player had more than one error in a single inning. You have to be able to put a bad play behind you and make the next play, and we didn't do that much this year.

[Cajunsmike]

Mental Toughness, this cannot be stressed enough, is the reason for so many errors. I don't know for sure how many times, but I can guarantee that multiple times this year, one player had more than one error in a single inning. You have to be able to put a bad play behind you and make the next play, and we didn't do that much this year.

I agree mental toughness was lacking. Often times a bad play in the field would carry over to the plate and vice versa. It has to be as the coaches repeatedly mentioned throughout the season that we had too many "soft" guys. What I don't understand is how you fix something like that in the off season other than to have team leaders step up. Les Smith could be that kind of guy but it is tough to be respected as a leader when you are a pure freshman.

[LifeTimeCajun]

i have never met les smith, just watched him play this year. But i dont see how he couldnt be respected as a leader...he has produced as a player, he goes at it 110% every time he steps on the field, and seems to be a very intense player. And I dont how u change a soft ballclub, they were soft last year,and again this year. Mental toughness needs to be identified when recruiting players. You either have it or you dont.

[LifeTimeCajun]

_ I disagree that pitching was the downfall. We were near the top of the conference in ERA this season. Unfortunately we were near the bottom in batting. What really killed us was being in the lower half in fielding. Many of those errors occurred at crucial times. The hitting did improve in the last week of the season except for the last game. Pitching did fall apart in the 2nd to last game but I don't panic in that regard when I look at the overall season on the mound. _

Poor defense makes any pitching staff bad. Giving even a bad team extra outs in and inning, makes pitchers throw more pitches, and gives the other team more oppertunities to make something happen. I think that its just a combination of things that did us in this year. we were consistantly inconsistant. there were times when would score 6,7 or 8 runs and lose ballgames. That should be enough runs to win some games. I felt we were close to turning the corner a few times this season, but it just didnt happen. If we add some talent at a few key positions, we might be headed backin the right direction

[jazzpop]

Can't clain to be a Cajun baseball expert or anything, but watching the game on Saturday
it looked like the fielding was attrocious at times and a real lack of sound fundamentals.
They don't look like a well coached or desciplined team.

[HoustonCajun]

_ Can't clain to be a Cajun baseball expert or anything, but watching the game on Saturday
it looked like the fielding was attrocious at times and a real lack of sound fundamentals.
They don't look like a well coached or desciplined team. _

Why doesn't anyone mention poor recruiting over the past few years. Every year, it is either good pitching with no hitting, or good hitting with poor pitching, or a poor fielding team with poor fundamentals and too many errors that costs us games, or a combination of all three. Seems to me, our recruiting has dropped off considerably and that falls on the coaches. Baseball was the one sport that we could always count on for success. We are now a middle to lower tier team of the Sun Belt. That says it all.

[Cajun90]

Why doesn't anyone mention poor recruiting over the past few years. Every year, it is either good pitching with no hitting, or good hitting with poor pitching, or a poor fielding team with poor fundamentals and too many errors that costs us games, or a combination of all three. Seems to me, our recruiting has dropped off considerably and that falls on the coaches. Baseball was the one sport that we could always count on for success. We are now a middle to lower tier team of the Sun Belt. That says it all.

Houston - You can't expect our coaches to perform miracles. They have a couple of drag chains around their ankles. No budget, facilities that are quickly becoming dated, and dorms that are almost third world in some circumstances. Put yourself in the recruits shoes and compare us against Tulane, Troy, or MT.

As far as our place in the Sunbelt. Keep in mind that the SBC is typically ranked around the 7th best conference in baseball which is a good ranking conference wise. Since the 64 team field was introduced in 99' the Cajuns have finished in 1st place twice, and 2nd place four times. We have finished 3rd thru 6th one time each, and our lowest place finish was 8th in 2001.

True we finished 6th last year, and 5th this year out of eleven teams. I however don't think this is some sort of downward spiral. We are in a low point that we will get out of but the overall strength of this program is definitely going to be dependent upon some major investment in the program.

We've all heard that investment is coming thanks in large part to one benefactor. That will certainly help our baseball facilities. We still have a lot of other general athletic facility concerns to deal with as well.

[snote]

opportunity to ask your questions.. last coach babineaux show today on the sportsnote.. 2:15-ish til 3 pm (CST)

call in # 337-269-1077