UL and McNeese Renew Rivalry at "The Tigue" on Wednesday

Contact: Matt Hebert

Game Notes

THE MIDWEEK GAME
Date: Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Location: Lafayette, La.
Site: M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field (3,755)
Time: 6 p.m
Opponent: McNeese State (17-20)
Radio: SportsRadio ESPN 1420 AM (KPEL)
Television: MyKLAF (cable channel 13/DirecTV 62)
Internet Broadcast Link: www.espn1420.com
Live Stats/Video: www.RaginCajuns.com

PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
RHP Austin Robichaux (UL) vs. LHP Trey McGee (MCN)

Final Midweek Home Game: The Ragin' Cajuns host their final midweek home game of the 2012 season on Wednesday, April 25 welcoming Interstate 10 rival McNeese State to M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field. It will be the 148^th installment of the Cajuns-Cowboys rivalry.

Well Acquainted: The series with McNeese State is the most-played in UL baseball history, with Wednesday's contest marking the 148^th meeting. When the two clubs met on March 7 in Lake Charles, that meeting broke a tie with UNO (146 meetings) for the most-played series.

Home Streak vs. McNeese: The Ragin' Cajuns have won the last seven meetings with McNeese at “The Tigue”. The last loss to MSU at home came on March 9, 2005.

Teacher vs. Pupil: When Louisiana head coach Tony Robichaux was the head coach at McNeese State (1987-94), current Cowboys head coach Terry Burrows pitched for Robichaux. Burrows was the first Robichaux product drafted by a Major League Baseball team when he was selected by the Texas Rangers in 1990.

Where It All Began: Cajuns head coach Tony Robichaux has special ties with McNeese. He's a former player and 1986 graduate of McNeese and began his coaching career there in 1987. Robichaux spent eight seasons as the Cowboys' skipper compiling a 263-177 record. Robichaux is the all-time winningest coach at McNeese and is also the all-time winningest coach in UL history. Robichaux has guided the Cajuns to 14-4 mark at "The Tigue" against his former ball club.

The McNeese Series (UL leads 85-62): Series has been an annual recurrence since 1988. In fact, 1973, 1985 and 1987 are the only three seasons that programs didn't meet since 1972 (span of 41 seasons).UL holds a 22-16 edge during the Tony Robichaux era. UL has won 10 of the last 12 meetings, overall. Wednesday's contest marks the 19th meeting in Lafayette in the Tony Robichaux Era with Louisiana holding a 14-4 edge. Schools were Southland Conference foes from 1973 through 1982 and Louisiana posted a 23-19 series record during that time frame.

Quick Reset: The Cajuns were dealt a Sun Belt series loss for the second straight weekend as South Alabama took 2-of-3 at Stanky Field in Mobile, Ala. USA rallied in the seventh inning on Friday with three runs off of Caleb Kellogg to post a 7-5 win. In the sixth, the Cajuns had a three-run rally of their own keyed by a two-RBI double from Jace Conrad. On Saturday, Chris Griffitt and Cord Cockrell limited the Jags' bats to one run and the offense strung together five runs from the second through fourth inning to build a comfortable lead. On Sunday, USA had eight consecutive batters reach base in the fourth inning which led to a four-spot that put the Jaguars up 5-2 and reliever Kyle Bartsch ended a Cajuns rally in the eighth inning with a bases-loaded strikeout.

Sweepstakes: Louisiana attempts to post a season series sweep of McNeese State for the fourth time in the past six seasons. The Cajuns swept the Cowboys three straight seasons from 2007-09. MSU picked up wins in Lake Charles in 2010 and 2011 to earn a split.

Another Robichaux Era Milestone: Saturday's 6-1 win over South Alabama marked the 300^th Sun Belt victory of the Tony Robichaux era. UL is currently 300-181 in SBC play in 18-plus seasons under Robichaux.

Freshman Phenom: Dylan Butler is on pace to become the first Cajuns freshman to lead the team in RBI since the program moved to Division I status in 1972. Butler's 36 RBI are well ahead of the team's second-leading run producer (20 by Chase Compton/Ryan Leonards) with 15 regular season games remaining.

Freshman Phenom, Part 2: Dylan Butler needs four (4) more RBI to become the first freshman with 40 RBI since Les Smith tallied 41 in 2009. He's on pace for 50 RBI which would mark the most RBI by a true freshman since Jonathan Lucroy tallied 48 in 2005.

Picking Up Steam: Dylan Butler's five RBI last week marked his highest weekly total since tallying eight RBI the week of March 12-18 and upped his team-leading season total to 36.

Turning the Corner: The Ragin' Cajuns bats posted double figure hits in three of four games last week, totaling 41 hits and a .295 average.

-- Ragin' Cajuns --

UL and McNeese Renew Rivalry at "The Tigue" on Wednesday

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