University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Western Kentucky*
Cajuns Remain at "The Tigue", Host WKU in Sun Belt Series
4/5/2012 2:18:00 PM | Baseball
Contact: Matt Hebert
Game Notes
THE WEEKEND SERIES
Dates: Friday-Sunday, April 6-8, 2012
Location: Lafayette, La.
Site: M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field (3,755)
Times: 6:00 p.m. (Fri) | 6:00 p.m. (Sat) | 1:00 p.m. (Sun)
Opponent: Western Kentucky (12-17, 4-5 Sun Belt)
Radio: Sports Radio ESPN 1420 AM (Saturday and Sunday) & News Talk 96.5 KPEL-FM (Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
Internet Broadcast Links: ESPN 1420-AM and 96.5 KPEL-FM
Live Stats: www.RaginCajuns.com
STARTING PITCHERS
Friday: RHP Jordan Nicholson (UL) vs. RHP Justin Hageman (WKU)
Saturday: LHP Chris Griffitt (UL) vs. LHP Tim Bado (WKU)
Sunday: TBA (UL) vs. TBA (WKU)
Enjoying the Comforts of Home: Louisiana continues a stretch in which seven of eight games are played at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field when Western Kentucky visits for a three-game Sun Belt series Friday-Sunday, April 6-8.
Key Stretch: Counting the WKU series, the Ragin' Cajuns are home for a Sun Belt series the next two weekends. UL hosts FIU next weekend. It's a perfect chance for the Cajuns to use the home field advantage to work their way back up the Sun Belt standings.
Saturday Nights at “The Tigue”: Continuing a new tradition that started during the 2010 season, now that the calendar has turned over to April all remaining Saturday games at “The Tigue” will start at 6 p.m.
Second Half Underway: Tuesday's game against Southeastern Louisiana marked the beginning of the second half of the 2012 season for all college baseball squads.
Quick Reset: Austin Robichaux and the Ragin' Cajuns suffered a near-miss on Tuesday as Southeastern Louisiana's Jonathan Pace doubled with two outs in the ninth inning to lift the Lions to a 2-1 victory. Robichaux carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning and was one strike away from a complete game shutout before Pace connected on a 2-2 count.
The WKU Series (UL leads 39-23): Series began in 1992 at the Sun Belt Tournament and became an annual meeting when the SBC moved away from divisional scheduling in 1995. Overall, the Cajuns have won 12 of the 18 all-time weekend sets (67 percent). UL and WKU meet in a weekend series at “The Tigue” for the 11th time. UL holds a 23-7 edge over the Toppers at “The Tigue”. UL has won all but one of the previous 10 weekend sets at “The Tigue”. UL has swept WKU four times at “The Tigue”, last doing so in 2006.
Looking to Get Back on Track: The Cajuns were dealt SBC series losses each of the past two weekends after beginning league play with a series win at La.-Monroe. Last weekend, UL was swept for in SBC play for the first time since April 2009 when FAU took all three games in Boca Raton.
Close Calls: Six of the past nine meetings between the Cajuns and Toppers have been decided by two runs or less. In WKU's last trip to “The Tigue” in 2010, Matt Ridings bested Zach Osborne in a 2-1 contest on Friday and in another thriller on Sunday it was a walkoff double by Tyler Frederick in the 10th inning gave UL the series victory.
Quality Arm: Jordan Nicholson has turned in five quality starts (six innings, three earned runs or less) this season. The senior righty from Ruston, La., has pitched at least six complete innings in five of his seven starts.
Relief in Sight: Chris Sinclair, who has started every game at catcher due to Michael Strentz's season-ending surgery, is starting to get some relief. Adam Todd, a catcher by trade, rejoined the squad last Thursday. Todd was a member of the 2010 squad, but chose to focus on academics and sat out the 2011 season. UL's roster featured only 34 players, allowing head coach Tony Robichaux to add an additional player. Todd replaced Sinclair on Friday and Sunday at FAU, marking the first time this season that Sinclair was lifted from a game.
Run Producing Machine: True freshman Dylan Butler has posted at least one RBI in 12 of the last 16 games he's played. He sports a team-high 30 RBI, which ranks fourth in the Sun Belt Conference trailing only UALR's Sean Bignall (40), Troy's Boone Shear (33) and South Alabama's Nick Zaharion (31).
Bowman Bagging Bases: Brian Bowman needs one (1) stolen base to tie his personal, single-season best of 17 set in 2010. Bowman ranks second in the Sun Belt with 16 swipes in 19 attempts.
Pitching Prowess: UL pitching has held the opposition to single digits in 27 of 28 games.
The Countdown Continues: Head coach Tony Robichaux is 16 wins shy of 900 career wins (presently 884-601-1 in his 26th season as a Division I head coach).
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
