Cajuns Start Five-Game Week at Nicholls State on Tuesday

Contact: Matt Hebert

Game Notes (PDF)

THE MIDWEEK GAME
Date: Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Location: Thibodaux, La.
Site: Ray E. Didier Field (3,200)
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Opponent: Nicholls State (17-20)
Radio: SportsRadio ESPN 1420-AM
TV: None
Internet Broadcast Link: ESPN 1420-AM
Live Stats: www.RaginCajuns.com
Social Media: Twitter = @ULRaginCajuns, Facebook = facebook.com/ragincajunsathletics

PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
LHP Kody Smith (UL) vs. LHP Grant Borne (NICH)

PLAY BALL
The Ragin' Cajuns are set to close out a five-game road trip this week as they travel to Thibodaux to meet Nicholls State at Ray Didier Field on Tuesday, April 16 at 6:30 p.m., then return to Natchitoches to complete a suspended game with Northwestern State at Brown-Stroud Field on Wednesday, April 17 at 6:30 p.m.

KEY STRETCH LIES AHEAD
Following the completion of the midweek matchups, the Cajuns return home to host Florida Atlantic in a Sun Belt series. For Louisiana, two games off the league lead, it begins a stretch in which three of the next four Sun Belt series are at “The Tigue”.

PILING UP THE HITS
Louisiana has produced double digit hits in seven of the last nine games and 20 games overall in 2013. In the ninth inning rally at UALR on Sunday, the Cajuns produced 10 hits.

LAST TIME WE MET
Ryan Wilson threw seven innings and the Ragin' Cajuns baseball team broke through in the eighth inning with four runs to break a tie and capture a 5-1 victory over Nicholls State at “The Tigue” back on Feb. 27. Dex Kjerstad laced a bases-loaded single into left field scoring Wilson and Jace Conrad, breaking the tie that had lasted since the Colonels (6-3) plated a run in the fifth inning.

WINNING THE WEEKEND
Louisiana has claimed the weekend series from the opposition in seven of the nine series. UL began the year a perfect 5-for-5 in weekend sets which sparked a 16-3 start.

A “PACK” OF HITTERS
Louisiana's starting lineup features all nine hitters with 20-plus hits, ranging from 27 to 46 hits, and six with a season average above .300.

COMPTON'S COMEBACK
Chase Compton broke free from a 4-for-39 slump (.103) by leading the Cajuns in hits with six in the UALR series. Compton hit .600 (6-of-10), posting at least one hit each day of the series.

LEONARDS STREAK REMAINS ALIVE
Ryan Leonards continued his career-best hitting streak, stretching it out to 12 games during the UALR series. Leonards is two off the team-high streak of 14 recorded by Tyler Girouard (March 10-April 5).

THE NICHOLLS SERIES (Louisiana leads 67-50-1)
The series with Nicholls is seventh-most played, with 118 previous meetings. Overall, UL has won 15 of the past 18 meetings. Nicholls' 3-2 win in the last meeting held in Thibodaux back on Feb. 23, 2011 ended a seven-game Cajuns series win streak. The teams are completing a home-and-home series after no meetings in 2012.

BASES NOTED
When the Cajuns and Northwestern State resume their game on Wednesday, UL will have runners on first and second with no outs and a 3-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning...Austin Robichaux pitched a complete game a second straight start, holding UALR to two hits and striking out a career-best 14 in the series opener...Robichaux's 14 strikeouts were the most by a Cajuns pitcher since Buddy Glass posted 14 in a midweek game with Nicholls State on May 7, 2006...UL hit .358 for the UALR series, marking the second straight weekend the squad's average was above .350 for a series (.351 vs. Troy)...On Sunday, Dex Kjerstad became the first Cajun to tie the school record of five hits since Kolin Hatfield in March 2007 at FIU...Kjerstad collected his team-leading 14th multiple-hit game and now owns a two-hit, three-hit, four-hit and five-hit game...The Cajuns tied a season-high with eight extra base hits in the UALR finale, increasing the season total to 119 which is second-highest in the Sun Belt (Troy leads with 124)...The nine runs in the ninth inning on Sunday marked the second time Louisiana recorded that many runs in an inning in 2013 (2/20 vs. Northwestern State).

-- Ragin' Cajuns --

Cajuns Start Five-Game Week at Nicholls State on Tuesday

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