University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Northwestern State
Louisiana and NSU Meet in Midweek Home-and-Home
4/16/2012 8:17:00 PM | Baseball
Contact: Matt Hebert
Game Notes
MIDWEEK #1
Date: Tuesday, April 17
Location: Natchitoches, La.
Site: Brown-Stroud Field (1,200)
Time: 6:30 p.m
Opponent: Northwestern State (14-19)
Radio: SportsRadio ESPN 1420 AM (KPEL)
Internet Audio Feed: ESPN 1420-AM
Live Stats/Video: www.NSUDemons.com
STARTING PITCHERS
RHP Austin Robichaux (UL) vs. RHP Jacob Roark (NSU)
MIDWEEK #2
Date: Wednesday, April 18
Location: Lafayette, La.
Site: M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field (3,755)
Times: 6 p.m
Opponent: Northwestern State (14-19)
Radio: SportsRadio ESPN 1420 AM (KPEL)
Internet Audio Feed: ESPN 1420-AM
Live Stats/Video: www.RaginCajuns.com
STARTING PITCHERS
TBA (UL) vs. TBA (NSU)
Let's Play Two: The Ragin' Cajuns baseball team is set for a midweek, home-and-home series with Northwestern State, starting Tuesday, April 17 in Natchitoches at Brown-Stroud Field. Tuesday's meeting is a makeup game for a contest washed away by rain on March 21. On Wednesday, April 18, the two squads will be at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field for a regularly scheduled affair starting at 6 p.m.
Busy Week: The Ragin' Cajuns have a five-game week ahead of them this week. In addition to the pair of NSU contests, UL will be in Mobile, Ala., for a three-game Sun Belt series with South Alabama at Stanky Field scheduled Friday-Sunday, April 20-22.
Season Ticket Redemption: For Wednesday's home game with NSU, the Cajuns are offering the second of three Season Ticket Redemption Nights. Any unused season tickets from home games 1-20 may be redeemed for additional ones to the contest.
Nail Biters: The last six games have all been decided by one run (dates back to 1-0 win over WKU on Saturday, April 7). Going back to the April 3 game vs. SLU, seven of the last eight games have been one-run affairs.
Quick Reset: The Cajuns dropped a close series to FIU as all games were decided by one run. The Cajuns jumped ahead 1-0 in the first inning on Friday, but FIU rallied with single runs in the fourth and fifth inning to take the lead. Starting pitcher Mason McVay and relievers Eddy Pidermann and Michael Gomez made the lead stand as they combined for a two-hitter. On Saturday, UL's bullpen tossed six innings of scoreless relief after FIU opened a 4-0 lead after three innings. Tyler Girouard's bases loaded single in the sixth inning put the Cajuns on the board, then in the seventh inning Brian Bowman came through with another bases loaded single to plate two runs and complete the comeback. On Sunday, Louisiana left the bases loaded three times and stranded 16 baserunners as FIU escaped with the series victory.
Solid Relief: The Cajuns bullpen delivered its strongest performance of 2012 last week, finishing the four-game set (Southern and FIU series) with 16 innings of scoreless relief. Dating back to the WKU series, the pen has worked 21 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings, starting with the final out recorded by Matt Hicks in the seventh inning of the Friday night contest.
Panthers Held in Check: It was another outstanding weekend series performance for Cajuns pitching, holding FIU to eight runs on 21 hits over 27 innings one week after limiting Western Kentucky to just seven runs and 17 hits over 27 innings. UL limited FIU, which entered the weekend hitting a Sun Belt-best .296, to a .216 average.
The NSU Series (UL Leads 76-48): For the 10thstraight season the Ragin' Cajuns and Demons meet for a home-and-home, midweek series. After a three-year hiatus from 2000-02, the UL has won 15 of the 24 meetings held since the series resumed in 2003. Louisiana holds a 21-16 edge in the Robichaux Era. UL has won eight of the past 12 meetings dating back to 2007. Louisiana is 6-9 at Brown-Stroud Field under Tony Robichaux. UL is 15-6 vs. the Demons at “The Tigue” in the Robichaux Era and has won the past six meetings held at the facility.
Mr. Web Gem: Freshman Jace Conrad extended his string of consecutive error-free games to 30 and has now fielded flawlessly the past 126 chances he's encountered. FIU tested him with 18 chances and he passed with flying colors (6 putouts, 12 assists).
Dylan Driving 'Em In: Dylan Butler's 31 RBI leave him nine shy of becoming the first freshman to reach 40 RBI since Les Smith tallied 41 in 2009. His RBI total ranks Top 10 in the Sun Belt Conference (tied for 7th).
Todd Delivers in Relief: Catcher Adam Todd, who rejoined the team the day before the FAU series after focusing on academics in 2011, filled in for Chris Sinclair (back spasms) for the second straight weekend during the FIU series. Todd posted a pair of caught stealing in the Saturday game vs. FIU, upping his total to four through six starts (opponents are just 4-for-8 off Todd in stolen bases).
Promising April: Since the April 3 game vs. Southeastern Louisiana, the Cajuns pitching staff has worked 71 innings and held the opposition to 20 runs, 49 hits and a .199 batting average. The staff has held the opposition to five runs or less seven times during the stretch.
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
