University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Cajuns Open 2005 Season With Weekend Series Against La. Tech
2/10/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Cajuns
Open 2005 Season With Weekend Series Against La. Tech
Louisiana-Lafayette is preseason favorite to win the Sun
Belt Conference
LAFAYETTE – Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns baseball team, the preseason favorite to win the Sun Belt Conference, will open its 2005 season against former Cajuns assistant coach Wade Simoneaux's Louisiana Tech Bulldogs here Friday at 6:30 p.m. at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field.
Louisiana-Lafayette has won its last seven season openers, the longest winning streak since UL Lafayette became an NCAA Division I member in 1972. UL Lafayette head coach Tony Robichaux is 8-2 all-time as the Cajuns' skipper in season openers.
Friday also begins the Cajuns' 28th season at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field. In the stadium's 27-year history, the Cajuns are 21-6 in home openers. The Cajuns have won 11 straight home openers, dating back to the 1993 season when the Cajuns lost 13-11 to Nicholls State on Feb. 17, 1993. Under Robichaux, UL Lafayette is 10-0 in home openers.
Senior right-handed pitcher and Eunice native Kevin Ardoin will start on the mound for the Cajuns Friday. Last season, Ardoin went 6-2 with a 3.30 earned run average and a team-high 95 strikeouts. Ardoin will face Louisiana Tech's Clayton Meyer (1-0), who went five innings en route to a 3-1 victory over McNeese State last Friday.
UL Lafayette, which was ranked No. 47 in the Baseball America preseason poll released on Jan. 5, finished 34-23 last season and tied for fourth in the Sun Belt.
Following this weekend's series against Louisiana Tech, Louisiana-Lafayette will travel to Huntsville, Texas, to face Sam Houston State on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m.
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
