University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Baseball Hosts USM at "The Tigue"
3/5/2010 2:38:00 AM | Baseball
Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns baseball team starts a three-game weekend series with Southern Miss on Friday, March 5 at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.
The teams will meet Saturday, March 6 at 2 p.m., and Sunday, March 7 at 1 p.m.
The Ragin' Cajuns (5-2) seek their third series victory of the season in as many weekends. UL swept Nicholls State opening weekend and took two-of-three from Miami University last weekend.
Southern Miss (5-3) is coming off a 2009 College World Series appearance. The Golden Eagles are playing their first road contests of the young season.
UL's rotation is expected to be Zach Osborne (0-0, 0.69 ERA) on Friday, Justin Robichaux (1-0, 0.00 ERA) on Saturday and T.J. Geith (1-0, 1.50 ERA) on Sunday. USM is expected to counter with Todd McInnis (1-1, 2.13 ERA) on Friday, Scott Copeland (1-0, 3.46 ERA) on Saturday and Geoffrey Thomas (0-1, 7.88 ERA) on Sunday.
The Cajuns are 4-1 at "The Tigue" this season and the pitching staff has allowed just five earned runs over 47 innings.
In each game at "The Tigue" the Cajuns' starting pitcher has worked at least six innings. Last weekend against Miami University, the starter worked seven complete innings.
Both the Cajuns and Golden Eagles have swung the bat well the first two-plus weeks of play. UL has posted 28 extra base hits and USM has 33. USM brings a .355 batting average into the wekeend series; opponents are hitting only .208 off of Cajuns pitching.
Louisiana has attracted 2,000-plus crowds all four home dates thus far and features a 2,567 average attendance at "The Tigue" which ranks 20th in the nation. With a great weather forecast expected, look for the crowds to be within that range again this weekend.
UL leads the all-time series 16-13. The Ragin' Cajuns are 10-1 vs. USM at "The Tigue".
The series with Southern Miss begins a 10-game homestand for Louisiana over a 13-day stretch. UL will welcome five different teams to "The Tigue" - Southern Miss, Alcorn State (March 9-10), Arkansas State (March 12-14), Southern (March 16) and Southeastern Louisiana (March17).
-- Ragin' Cajuns--
