Cajuns in Little Rock Seeking to Climb Higher in SBC Standings

Contact: Matt Hebert

Game Notes

THE WEEKEND SERIES
Dates: Friday-Sunday, April 27-29, 2012
Location: Little Rock, Ark.
Site: Gary Hogan Field (1,000)
Times: 6:00 p.m. (Fri) | 4:00 p.m. (Sat) | 1:00 p.m. (Sun)
Opponent: UALR (20-20, 7-11 Sun Belt)
Radio: Sports Radio ESPN 1420 AM (Friday) & News Talk 96.5 KPEL-FM (Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
Television: None
Internet Broadcast Links: ESPN 1420-AM and 96.5 KPEL-FM
Live Stats: www.RaginCajuns.com
Live Video: www.UALRTrojans.com

STARTING PITCHERS
Friday: RHP Jordan Nicholson (UL) vs. RHP Chance Cleveland (UALR)
Saturday: LHP Chris Griffitt (UL) vs. RHP Blake Huffman (UALR)
Sunday: TBA (UL) vs. TBA (UALR)

Back on the Road: The Ragin' Cajuns play a road Sun Belt series for the second straight weekend as they venture to Little Rock, Ark., to meet UALR in a three-game set Friday-Sunday, April 27-29 at Gary Hogan Field. Last weekend, Louisiana was in Mobile, Ala., for a three-game set with South Alabama.

All for the Taking: Louisiana currently sits in a tie for seventh place in the Sun Belt standings with UALR and La.-Monroe and one game ahead of Troy for last place as the battle for seeding in the conference tournament heats up. Only the Top 8 teams in the league advance to the postseason event. Good news for the Cajuns is that all of the teams they are fighting to stay ahead of are on the schedule starting this weekend at UALR. The Cajuns host Troy next weekend and get La.-Monroe at “The Tigue” in the season finale.

Something Has to Give: The Cajuns-Trojans series features one of the best pitching staffs (UL) and arguably the most powerful lineups (UALR) in the Sun Belt. UL pitching has surrendered double figure runs only once in 40 games and leads the league with a 3.55 ERA in conference games. UALR has pounded out 154 extra base hits on the way to a robust .482 slugging percentage and has scored double figures 13 times.

Turning the Corner: The Ragin' Cajuns bats have posted double figure hits in four of the last five games, totaling 51 hits and a .302 average. The squad appears to have broken free from a slump that saw them hit .202 over a 12-game stretch (March 28-April 15).

The UALR Streak: Louisiana has swept the season series from UALR the past five years (2007-2011). The Cajuns currently own a 16-game win streak over UALR, dating back to the 2006 series finale. Louisiana has won 16 of the 18 Sun Belt series with UALR. The Trojans' lone series wins came in 2000 (sweep) and 2001 (2-1). UL holds a commanding 45-13 all-time series lead (22-8 in Little Rock).

The UALR Series (UL leads 45-13): All but three meetings have taken place since both schools became Sun Belt members in 1992. Head coach Tony Robichaux has been at the helm for 42 of UL's 45 series victories. UL swept all three games of the inaugural series in Little Rock, March 30-31, 1986. UALR won the first SBC meeting 5-0 on March 11, 1995, then UL went on to win 11 of the next 12 to take a commanding 14-2 series lead. This weekend's set marks the 10^th Sun Belt series between the two schools at Gary Hogan Field.

Close Calls: UL has played 23 games decided by two runs or less (12-11 record).

Let the Countdown Begin: Head coach Tony Robichaux is 10 wins shy of 900 career wins.

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.

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.

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

The Workhorse: Senior righty Jordan Nicholson has pitched at least six complete innings in seven of his 10 starts this season. In two seasons in a UL uniform, Nicholson has pitched six-plus in 14 of 22 starts and notched 13 quality starts.

One-Two Punch: Relievers Matt Hicks and Caleb Kellogg have combined for nine saves and combined to hold opponents to 16 runs over 55 1/3 innings. In Sun Belt play their even tougher, combining to hold league foes to five runs in 21 1/3 innings.

-- Ragin' Cajuns --

Cajuns in Little Rock Seeking to Climb Higher in SBC Standings

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