Cajuns Stunned In Lafayette Regional By Jackson State

LAFAYETTE, La. – Despite a great start on the mound by junior Austin Robichaux, the top-ranked and No. 6 national seed Louisiana baseball team suffered a heartbreaking 1-0 loss to Jackson State in the Lafayette Regional opener on Friday night at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field.

"I think Austin did a great job setting a great tempo for us and attacking with his fastball," head coach Tony Robichaux said. "I thought Blake Trahan and the guys did a great job of playing really good defense, and that's what you want to do. You want to pitch and play defense, and from there you want to try to get timely hitting. They got the one timely hit, and we didn't get a timely hit when we needed it. That's the difference in the ball game.

"We give their guys credit, they threw strikes, they came into a tough venue, and pitched the way they needed to pitch to try to win a ball game. The only thing we can do with something like that is keep matching him. And I'm really proud of the way Austin kept going back out and matching him, and the way we continued to play sound defense. We just never could get the right hit at the right time."

The loss snaps the Cajuns' (53-8) nation leading 10-game win streak and hands the squad its sixth loss at home this season. The shutout loss is the first since the last game of the 2012 season against ULM.

The Ragin' Cajuns will face San Diego State (42-20) in a 1 p.m. elimination game tomorrow at "the Tigue". The winner would face the loser of the Jackson State/Mississippi State winner's bracket game (Saturday 6 p.m.) on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Robichaux was tabbed with the loss despite holding the Tigers (32-23) to just one run on four hits in eight innings to fall to 7-3 on the year. The right-hander stuck out six in the outing and did now allow a walk, but did hit three batters.

Vincent Athonia picked up the victory for JSU throwing six scoreless innings scattering five hits and three walks with two strikeouts.

Trahan led the Ragin' Cajuns offensively going 3-for-4 at the plate, while Caleb Adams was 1-for-1 with three walks. Senior Chase Compton set a new school record as he was hit by a pitch in the sixth inning for the 22nd time on the year breaking the previous record held by teammate Michael Strentz.

Jackson State posted the only run of the game in the top of the fourth as Melvin Rodriguez singled up the middle to score Desmond Russell from second with two outs. Russell reached on a one-out double down the left field line.

Alexander Juday earned his third save of the year coming on in the seventh to throw three scoreless with two strikeouts to close out the game.

Carson Baranik (10-1, 3.30 ERA) will make the start for the Cajuns against the Aztecs tomorrow, while SDSU will counter right right-hander Bubba Derby (8-3, 2.69 ERA). The meeting will be the first ever between the two teams.

Postgame Quotes

Louisiana Head Coach Tony Robichaux

On if he is shocked by the loss: "First thing, when you've been in the business for 29 years, this is not the first time this has happened. So the one thing you do is don't panic. I trust these hitters. They've been there all year for us. Austin did an outstanding job, we did all the things that we needed to do, we just failed... no mat- ter who your opponent is, you're playing against the game of baseball. It'll be a big deal who our opponent was, but really it's us. We just didn't get the timely hit.
"On the other hand, you got to give them credit. Their pitchers stopped us from getting a timely hit. So they've done a great job with their ball club, they came in here prepared, we knew that, it was indicative of who we started. We knew that when they gave us the first starter, he had given us trouble at Alex Box Sta- dium [at last year's NCAA Regional], we didn't score on him until the 5th inning, and then they switched starters to the lefty, and we stayed with our starter because that's the respect we had for them. We felt we had to keep the score down, they were going to change speeds, and it was either going to work for them or not work for them, and it worked for them. And they did a good job.
"We had a chance to get a big lick with runners on second and third, at least get one run in right there. And we just didn't get the timely hit. Their one timely hit did us in. Normally, one timely hit in the middle of a game doesn't do you in, but it did. We countered it with nothing but zeroes with Austin, he kept going out and grinding it out. Our motto here is 'We don't care about your record. We don't care about your wins. You have one job to do as a pitcher and that's get out there and give us a chance to win,' and he did that. And the defense backed him up, we just didn't get the timely hit. So we've got to go to bed, get some food to- night from the cooking club, and get up tomorrow ready to go and get out of being stunned.
"Now it's going to look a lot worse, maybe, because we're the number-one team in the country, but rankings, I've told you that before, it doesn't guarantee you anything. You do not have to be ranked number one to be number one. That's why this game is so dangerous."

Louisiana SS Blake Trahan

On the difference in the game: "They were definitely throwing with less velocity than we were used to. And baseball is a game where you need to make an adjustment, and we didn't do that, and we didn't get the timely hit."

On if the team is shocked, and how to get over the loss: "We're a little shocked, but baseball is a funny game. We're going to have to come back and bounce back tomorrow. We got hit in the mouth and we're going to have to stand back up."

On how team chemistry will help the team bounce back: "All the stuff we've been through in the fall and all the stuff we've been through during the spring, this team is made to be able to come back and win 4 straight and be regional champs, so I don't doubt this team one bit and I think we can do it."

-- Ragin' Cajuns --

Cajuns Stunned In Lafayette Regional By Jackson State

Next Event

Team Stats

Blake Trahan

Ryan Leonards

Jace Conrad

Caleb Adams

Footer

University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics