Softball Preview: Baylor Doubleheader

Games 22-23: No. 18 Louisiana (17-4, 0-0 Sun Belt) vs. No. 22 Baylor (18-4, 0-0 Big 12)
Tuesday, March 7 (DH) • 4 p.m. (CST) • Lamson Park (2,790) • Lafayette, La.

PROMOTIONS
Red Out & Weekday Work Perk
- Fans are encouraged to wear red
- Red swag rags for first 750 fans
- Business cards will be collected at the fans services table during both games and one lucky winner will be chosen for a prize during the second game

Radio: SportsRadio ESPN 1420-AM • Talent: Steve Peloquin, PxP
TV: None
Live Stats: Game 1 | Game 2
Live Video (FREE): Ragin' Cajuns All-Access
Rosters: Louisiana | Baylor
Schedules: Louisiana | Baylor
2017 Stats: Louisiana | Baylor
Ragin' Cajuns Twitter: @ULRaginCajuns | @RaginCajunsSB
Opponents' Twitter: @BaylorSoftball

THE COACHES
Louisiana: Michael Lotief (Louisiana, 1985)
Record at Louisiana: 701-172-1 (15th season) Career Record: Same

Baylor: Glenn Moore (Northwestern State, 1993)
Record at Baylor: 670-312 (17th season) Career Record: 809-354 (20th season)

5 THINGS TO KNOW
1 – 18th-ranked Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Softball is set to close out a season-opening, 23-game homestand. The Ragin' Cajuns have posted a 17-4 record thus far through three tournaments and a weekend series vs. then-No. 4 Alabama.

2 – Louisiana plays its final non-conference games prior to the start of Sun Belt Conference play. The Ragin' Cajuns travel to Boone, N.C., this weekend to start SBC play at App State (March 11-12).

3 – With explosive numbers the last two weekends, the Ragin' Cajuns offense has climbed to No. 2 in scoring (8.67) and home runs per game (1.57), No. 4 in on base percentage (.461), No. 5 in slugging percentage (.573) and No. 20 in batting average (.337) in the latest NCAA stats rankings.

4 – It's the fourth straight regular season that Louisiana and Baylor meet. The current annual recurrence of the series started in April 2014.

5 – It's the second Top 25 matchup this season at Lamson Park. In Week 2, then-No. 4 Alabama visited for a weekend series.

FOR STARTERS
18th-ranked Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Softball closes out its season-opening, 23-game homestand with a Top 25 midweek showdown with No. 22 Baylor. The Ragin' Cajuns (17-4) and Bears (18-4) are scheduled to play a 4 p.m. doubleheader on Tuesday, March 7 at Lamson Park.

THEY'RE ON A ROLL
Louisiana is coming off a 6-0 run through the Ragin' Cajuns Invitational last weekend, outscoring foes 71-6 in extending their current win streak to seven games. Since the Top 25 series with then-No. 4 Alabama the Ragin' Cajuns have won 13 of their last 14 games.

The Ragin' Cajuns bats are beginning to heat up at the right time…with Sun Belt play starting this coming weekend. The squad hit for a .454 average in the Ragin' Cajuns Invitational, collecting 17 home runs, 71 runs and 74 hits over the six games.

THE BEARS ARE IN A GROOVE, TOO
Baylor has hit an early stride also, winning of 12 of its past 13 games dating back to Feb. 19. Glen Moore's squad is coming off a strong performance at the prestigious Judi Garman Classic in Fullerton, Calif., posting wins over No. 20 Arizona State, No. 14 Michigan, No. 8 Washington and No. 7 UCLA.

THE 700 CLUB
Head coach Michael Lotief captured his 700th career win on Sunday in Louisiana's 18-0 (5 inn.) win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Now in his 15th season as the Ragin' Cajuns head coach, his career record stands at 701-172-1 (.802). He joins a list of college softball coaching greats to surpass 700 career wins including Michigan's Carol Hutchins, Arizona's Mike Candrea, former Cajuns coach Yvette Girouard, Oklahoma's Patty Gasso, Alabama's Pat Murphy, UCLA's Sue Enquist, Baylor's Glenn Moore and select others.

WE MEET AGAIN
It was has developed into one of the premier regional non-conference rivalries in college softball, Louisiana and Baylor are meeting in the regular season for the fourth straight season. The current string of yearly meetings began with an April 22, 2014 doubleheader in Waco, continued in 2015 with the Bear's trip to Lamson Park for a weekend series in April and returned to Waco in March 2016 with the two teams splitting a doubleheader.

THE COMEAUX CRUSH
Lexie Comeaux hit six home runs and posted 15 RBI as part of a personal offensive explosion during the Ragin' Cajuns Invitational last weekend at Lamson Park. For the weekend, the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns' catcher hit .600 (9-of-15) with eight of her nine hits going for extra bases (two doubles, six home runs) resulting in a 1.933 slugging percentage.

Comeaux collected an RBI all six games notching a trio of four-RBI performances along the way. She closed the weekend with a home run in five straight games, capped off by her first career multi-homer game in the finale vs. Alcorn.

SIZZLING SANDERS
DJ Sanders continued her resurgence that began with the Alabama series. In last weekend's Ragin' Cajuns Invitational, Sanders went 8-for-18 at the plate and launched four more home runs which increased her team-leading total to 10.

Over the last three weekends, Sanders is hitting 20-for-44 (.455) with 25 runs scored, nine home runs and 17 RBI. The increase in production has increased her season slugging percentage to .909, which ranks 22nd amongst all Division I players, and upped her total base count to 60 which is third-most in the nation.

DANIELLA'S DRIVE
A week after driving home 10 runs in the Mardi Gras Invitational, junior transfer Daniella Chavez kept brining her teammates home during the Ragin' Cajuns Invitational. She produced eight RBI last weekend, giving her 18 over the past two weekends.

Chavez now leads Louisiana in RBI with 24 on the young season. She's the Sun Belt's leader in the category and ranks No. 8 in the NCAA stats rankings. Being a run producer is nothing new for the Kansas transfer, as she piled up 122 RBI over her two-year stay with the Jayhawks.

STIRRING THE OFFENSE
Slap hitters Kassidy Zeringue and Kelli Martinez, who bat No. 8 and No. 9 in the lineup respectively, have provided the desired result of turning the lineup over. It was clearly evident during the Ragin' Cajuns Invitational as the duo combined to go 16-for-30 at the plate, combined to reach base 21 times and even combined to produce seven RBI.

For the season, the Cajuns table setters have combined for 41 base hits. Zeringue tops the squad with a .452 average, while Martinez is second at .379.

STEWART'S STEADY
All-American pitcher Alex Stewart has surrendered five hits or less in all but one of her seven starts. She's allowed just 11 earned runs through 39-1/3 innings pitched. Free bases continue to be rare for the senior hurler, with only 10 walks issued overall and just four in her last 21-1/3 innings of work.

Stewart pitched 9-1/3 scoreless innings, allowed only two hits, struck out nine and posted three wins during last weekend's Ragin' Cajuns Invitational. Stewart started both of Louisiana's games on Saturday and pitched three innings of hitless softball against North Dakota State followed by five scoreless innings with five strikeouts against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. On Sunday, Stewart worked 1-1/3 innings in relief and held Alcorn hitless as the Ragin' Cajuns rallied from a 4-3 deficit in the third inning.

DIAMOND NOTES
#TwoGrandTallies: Haley Hayden scored 16 runs in February, upping her career total to 205 and added eight more during the Ragin' Cajuns Invitational. Now at 213 career runs, Hayden is closing in on the school's all-time career record of 243 scored by Nerissa Myers from 2010-13. The odds are in her favor: in her previous three seasons she reached 60 runs.

#PatienceIsAVirute: The Ragin' Cajuns hitters have turned patience and strong plate discipline into a nation-leading 132 walks through the first four weekends. Louisiana has drawn five or more walks in 15 of 21 games.

#ClutchInTheStretch: The Ragin' Cajuns have shown that they can come through with the clutch at bats in the late stages of the game. Louisiana holds a 44-15 advantage in runs over the sixth and seventh innings.

#TrafficControl: The Ragin' Cajuns pitching staff has limited foes to 93 hits and surrendered only 36 walks through 129 innings pitched. Opponents are batting a mere .198 off of the Cajuns' hurlers. The opposition has surpassed five hits just six times in 21 games and obtained more than two walks six times (no more than two since Feb. 23 vs. Drake).

#PowerOfUs: All nine of the starters have posted at least 15 hits and eight of the nine have already generated double digit RBI totals through the first four weekends.

#DawnOfDenham: Freshman pitcher Alyssa Denham showed in February that she's going to be a dependable arm for the Ragin' Cajuns in the circle. Denham worked 38 innings in the circle over the season's first month, limiting foes to 10 runs (seven earned), 21 hits and a .159 average. The highlight was a complete game, two-hit shutout of No. 4 Alabama that secured the series win for the Ragin' Cajuns and earned her USA Softball National Player of the Week honors.

#Sparkplug: Kelli Martinez is not your typical nine-hole hitter. The junior left fielder posted four multiple-hit games, 15 base hits and six RBI during the month of February. She picked up right where she left off last weekend, collecting two more multiple-hit games and four RBI in the Ragin' Cajuns Invitational.

#LivingOnTheBases: Aleah Craighton has already drawn 27 walks over 83 plate appearances. She's already tied her personal single-season high walks total (27 in 2016) and may challenge the school's single-season record 61 set by Lacey Bertucci (2007) and Gabriele Bridges (2011).

#HittingAllAngles: Given the amount of home run production lost from 2016, it stood to reason that the Ragin' Cajuns would have to find the gaps in the outfield to keep its offense efficient. So far, the squad has as collected 24 doubles, launched 33 home runs and has legged out five triples.

#NationsBest: Louisiana has an active streak of 58 consecutive weeks ranked in the national polls dating back to April 2013 and has finished ranked in one of the national polls each of the past nine seasons (2008-16) and 24 times in the past 27 seasons (1990-2016).

#EveryoneLovesLamson: Due in large part to the softball savvy fan base and the "joie de vivre" (exuberant enjoyment of life) of the Cajun culture, Lamson Park leaves a lasting impression on visitors. That was affirmed in a recent poll conducted by FloSoftball.com which ranked the facility No. 1 in college softball.

LOUISIANA-BAYLOR SERIES
Series Record: Louisiana leads 15-8
In Lafayette: Louisiana leads 9-3
In Waco, Texas: Tied 3-3
Neutral: Louisiana leads 3-2
Current Streak: Louisiana won 1
Last Meeting: 3/29/16 in Waco, Texas
(Louisiana 4, Baylor 3)

Series Notes
First meeting took place in 1983 in Irving, Texas (UTA Tournament)...Met in Irving again in 1984 and back-to-back seasons in Houston from 1987-88...Baylor participated in the Louisiana Classics at Lamson Park each season from 1996-98, with the teams playing five times during that span...Wouldn't meet again until 2007 Ragin' Cajuns Invitational at Lamson Park...Met in May 2009 during an NCAA Regional at Getterman Stadium, with Baylor winning both meetings...Cajuns took all three meetings in 2014 - one at the Gulfport (Miss.) College Classic (Feb. 28) and two in a doubleheader in Waco (Apr. 22)...Teams met five times in 2015 with Louisiana sweeping a doubleheader at Lamson Park (April 11) and claiming 2-of-3 matchups in the NCAA Lafayette Regional including the winner-take-all finale...Heather Stearns' four-hit shutout gave Baylor a win in Game 1 of last year's doubleheader in Waco, while Kelsey Vincent's grand slam in the fifth inning of Game 2 lifted Louisiana to a win and a split of the day's action.

Last Time at Lamson Park (May 17, 2015 - NCAA Lafayette Regional Final)
After Baylor avoided elimination in the first game of the Lafayette Regional championship round by posting a 6-2 victory, the Ragin' Cajuns bounced back with a 9-1 (6 inn.) triumph in the winner-take-all finale. A bases-loaded sacrifice fly by Aleah Craighton broke a scoreless tie and plated the first of two Cajuns runs in the second inning. A 7-2 DP initiated by Shellie Landry kept the lead 2-0 in the third. Lexie Elkins' home run in the third, which upped the lead to 3-0, was her 31st of the season establishing a new single-season record. After Baylor cut the lead to 5-1 in the fifth, Jordan Wallace started a 1-2-3 DP to close the inning and end the rally.

Last Meeting (March 29, 2016 in Waco, Texas)
Both the No. 4-ranked Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns softball team and No. 19 Baylor made leads that they attained stand and split a doubleheader at Getterman Stadium on March 29, 2016. Baylor (27-7) picked up two runs in the third inning of Game 1 on a double from Shelby Friudenberg and Heather Stearns protected the 2-0 lead as the Bears triumphed in the opener. Louisiana (26-3) used a two-out grand slam in the fifth inning of Game 2 to end a scoreless duel between Alex Stewart and Kendall Potts, then Stewart stranded the tying run in the sixth and seventh as the Ragin' Cajuns won the nightcap 4-3.

THE FORCE BEHIND "US"
Lamson Park has long been the site of large crowds making it a tough venue for the opposition – and this season has been no different. Louisiana has drawn above 2,000 in attendance at Lamson Park seven times and has seen over 1,700 for all 12 playing dates. The current total attendance is 24,348 and the average is 2,029.

INFIELD ROADBLOCK
Ragin' Cajuns pitchers are backed up by one of the nation's stingiest infield defense. There's the quick speed of Haley Hayden (first base) and Kassidy Zeringue (second base) on the right side and the exceptional range of motion by DJ Sanders (shortstop) and quick reflexes of Kara Gremillion (third base) on the left side that make it tough for opposing hitters to get ground balls out of the infield. The group has committed only nine errors through 345 total chances.

A PROVEN MEASURE
Lexie Comeaux – who was slotted for first or second base – filling the spot at catcher is a similar situation to former Ragin' Cajuns catchers Joy Webre who was a shortstop and Lana Bowers who was an outfielder before being converted to the position. Webre and Bowers turned out to be four-year starters for Louisiana. Comeaux's arrival at the position was spurned by a season-ending knee injury suffered by Miranda Grotenhuis who had worked her way into the spot during the fall season.

FITTED FOR THE ROLE
Kara Gremillion, last year's nine-hole hitter, has moved to the leadoff spot in the batting order for the 2017 season. Given last season's performance at the plate, it seems like a natural fit. As a freshman in 2016, Gremillion displayed poise at the plate, with 30 walks against 11 strikeouts in 173 plate appearances (.480 on base percentage).

MRS. VERSATILITY
Haley Hayden's move to first base marks the third position she's played in a Ragin' Cajuns uniform. The senior from West Monroe patrolled center field as a freshman in 2014 and covered second base the past two seasons.

SHE'S DEPENDABLE, TOO
Throughout her career, Haley Hayden has proved to be the Ragin' Cajuns' most consistent hitter. Last season was a prime example of the stability Hayden provides in the lineup – hit .362 in February, .360 in March, .388 in April and .390 in May. She's produced at least 60 runs and 60 hits each of the past three years. Last season, she had at least one base hit in 45 of 55 games, had 10 different hitting streaks, and went the entire season without consecutive hitless games.

THE DYNAMIC DUO
A year ago, the rise of Aleah Craighton and DJ Sanders as prolific hitters was on display as they both hit 18 home runs. Now it's their turn to be the force in the heart of the lineup. Craighton has tallied 20-plus extra base hits the first two years of her career. Of her 109 career base hits, over 50 percent (58) have produced extra bases. Sanders saw a significant increase in power (from four home runs as a freshman to 18) and run production (from 27 RBI as a freshman to 58) during the 2016 season.

FAMILY TIES
Sisters Kara and Kourtney Gremillion are following in the footsteps of their aunts, Stacie Gremillion and Sandy Percle, who donned the Cajuns uniform in the mid-1980s. Chelsea Lotief, daughter of head coach Michael Lotief, is suiting up for the Ragin' Cajuns like her mother, Stefni (Whitton) Lotief, did from 1987-90.

SISTER ACT
Alyssa Denham is the fourth daughter of Steven and Kathy Denhman to play collegiate softball. All three of her elder sisters played softball at McNeese and were All-Southland Conference selections: Stephenie (shortstop, 2001-03), Jessica (pitcher, 2003-06) and Tiffany (pitcher, 2009-12).

#GeauxCajuns

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Players Mentioned

Lexie Comeaux

Aleah Craighton

Alyssa Denham

Lexie Elkins

Kara Gremillion

Kourtney Gremillion

Miranda Grotenhuis

Haley Hayden

Shellie Landry

Chelsea Lotief

Kelli Martinez

DJ Sanders

Alex Stewart

Kelsey Vincent

Kassidy Zeringue

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