Louisiana Faces Middle Tennessee in First SBC Road Series of 2013

Contact: Matt Hebert

Game Notes (PDF)

THE WEEKEND SERIES
Dates: Friday-Sunday, March 22-24, 2013
Location: Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Site: Reese Smith, Jr. Field (2,100)
Times: 6:00 p.m. (Fri) | 4:00 p.m. (Sat) | 1:00 p.m. (Sun)
Opponent: Middle Tennessee (12-10, 0-3 Sun Belt)
Radio: News Talk 96.5 KPEL-FM and SportsRadio ESPN 1420 KPEL-AM (Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
Internet Broadcast Link: 96.5 KPEL-FM and 1420 KPEL-AM
Live Stats/Video: www.RaginCajuns.com

STARTING PITCHERS
Friday: LHP Ryan Wilson (UL) vs. RHP Hunter Adkins (MT)
Saturday: RHP Austin Robicahaux (UL) vs. LHP Johnathan Frebis (MT)
Sunday: LHP Cody Boutte (UL) vs. LHP Zac Curtis (MT)

PLAY BALL
The Ragin' Cajuns baseball team travels to Murfreesboro, Tenn., to face Middle Tennessee in the first road Sun Belt series of 2013. Louisiana carries a season-best, six-game win streak into the series with the Blue Raiders. It's the final Sun Belt series between the two programs as Middle Tennessee moves to Conference USA in 2014.

5-for-5
Louisiana's series win over ULM kept the team perfect (5-for-5) in weekend series, having earned the series win each weekend thus far in 2013.

SWEEPSTAKES
The Cajuns began Sun Belt play with a sweep for the first time since 2007 by capturing all three games of the Sun Belt opening series with ULM last weekend. It was Louisiana's third series sweep (UTSA, SHU, ULM) through five weekends in 2013.

NEXT STOP: NASHVILLE
The trip to face Middle Tennessee marks the first of back-to-back weekends the Ragin' Cajuns will fly into the Nashville airport. Next weekend (March 29-31), the Cajuns fly to Nashville then travel north on I-65 to Bowling Green, Ky., to face WKU.

PUTTING STREAKS TOGETHER
Louisiana's current six-game win streak marks the third win streak of at least four games during the squad's 17-3 start.

THE MIDDLE TENNESSEE SERIES (Louisiana leads 34-27)
The Cajuns hold a 25-11 advantage in Sun Belt regular season play; MT holds a 10-2 edge in the SBC Tourney. The Cajuns have won 10 of the 12 SBC series contested. UL is 27-21 vs. MT in the Tony Robichaux era. The Cajuns and Blue Raiders are meeting in a weekend series at Reese-Smith, Jr. Field for the seventh time (UL is 12-6 at Reese-Smith in SBC regular season play). The series was revived when MT joined the Sun Belt in 2001. Series began in March 1975 and the teams met sporadically through 1983, but not again until the Blue Raiders joined the SBC.

QUICK RESET
The Cajuns took in their first midweek game in three weeks the last time out, defeating Southern 11-6 at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field. Louisiana built a 10-0 lead after five innings on their way to capturing their sixth straight victory. Dex Kjerstad led a group of five Cajuns with multiple hits turning in a 4-for-6 performance and finished a double short of the cycle.

LAST WEKEEND
The Cajuns opened Sun Belt play with a sweep of ULM. Ryan Wilson turned in a complete game in his Friday night debut and Tyler Girouard's two-run home run in the third inning gave UL the lead. On Saturday, the Cajuns picked up all the runs Austin Robichaux (7.2 IP, 3 H, 8 K) would need scoring five times in the third inning. In the finale a pair of Tyler Girouard RBI singles made the difference, one breaking a 1-1 tie and the other adding an insurance run in the sixth inning. Cody Boutte held ULM to six hits in 8 1/3 innings and Matt Hicks picked up his second save of the series.

QUALITY CONTROL
Only one reliever was needed in the ULM sweep – Matt Hicks. All three Cajuns starting pitchers (Wilson, Robichaux, Boutte) worked seven-plus innings in the series.

CLOSING THE DOOR
Matt Hicks made it 7-for-7 in save situations, closing out the Saturday and Sunday games of the ULM series. Hicks' seven saves are a personal-best, two off the school single-season record (9, Justin Robichaux in 2008). His 11 career saves is one off the career record (12, Kraig Schambough and Justin Robichaux).

A “PACK” OF HITTERS
Louisiana already has 11 hitters reach double digit hits, ranging from 13 to 23 hits. Five hitters have produced double figure RBI.

GETTING CLOSER
The Ragin' Cajuns are inching ever closer to joining the collegiate baseball polls. Louisiana is receiving votes in the USA Today Coaches poll (#29) and National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Top 25. In Collegiate Baseball's Top 30, the Cajuns on are the doorstep at No. 31. Perfect Game listed the Cajuns in the “Others to Watch” category.

TAKING THE LEAD
Tyler Girouard led Louisiana in hits (5) and RBI (4) for the second straight weekend series. Girouard hit .556 (5-of-9) vs. ULM. Following a 2-for-3 showing vs. Southern on Tuesday, Giouard upped his season average to .444 (20-of-45).

“AUT”OMATIC
In four of his five starts in 2013, sophomore pitcher Austin Robichaux has held the opposition to four hits or less. Robichaux has pitched 27 2/3 innings and limited foes to just 21 hits.

STRENTZ RETURNS
Catcher Michael Strentz returned to action after a hand injury from the Sacred Heart series finale sidelined him during the Southern Miss series (March 8-10), starting all three games of the ULM series.

THIS 'N THAT

Cajuns pitching limited ULM hitters to a .208 average and just 20 hits over 27 innings in last weekend's Sun Belt opening series
Seven saves for Matt Hicks marks a new personal single-season best (previous was four in 2012)
The infield combo of Chase Compton (1B), Jace Conrad (2B), Blake Trahan (SS) and Sam Carriere (3B) has committed only eight (8) errors in a combined 370 chances
Seth Harrison brings a 12-game hitting streak into the Middle Tennessee series. It's the longest hit streak since Mike Petello produced a 14-game streak in 2011
Louisiana pitching has held the opposing team to five runs or fewer 13 times through the first 20 games (13-0 record). Dating back to 2011, Cajuns pitching has limited foes to five runs or less 81 times out of 131 games
The Ragin' Cajuns hold a +56 run differential over the opposition outscoring foes 140-84. Louisiana owns seven victories of six-plus runs
The last time a Cajuns player (Tommy Bates) hit for the cycle was in 1990. Dex Kjerstad came within a double vs. Southern of accomplishing the task (2 singles, triple, home run)
Tyler Girouard tops the team with a .844 slugging percentage. Nearly half of his 20 hits have gone for extra bases (3 doubles, 3 triples, 3 HR)
Chase Comtpon is hitting .458 (11-of-24) since the Sacred Heart series opener (3/1). Tyler Girouard is hitting .483 during that same time span
Jace Conrad is hitting .333 since March 1 (8-of-24) which has upped his season average to .262
Blake Trahan is the lone freshman in the starting lineup and is tied for the lead in hits (23). He's posted at least one base hit in 15 of 19 appearances
Dex Kjerstad has hit leadoff in 15 of 18 appearances. The former Texas Longhorn and Howard College transfer has hit safely in six of last his last seven games with an at bat
Seth Harrison leads the team in runs scored (19). The Hill College transfer began his current 12-game hit streak back on Feb. 22 (opening game of UTSA series)

-- Ragin' Cajuns --

Louisiana Faces Middle Tennessee in First SBC Road Series of 2013

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Louisiana Faces Middle Tennessee in First SBC Road Series of 2013

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