The UL Ragin’ Cajuns have now lost three of their last four games after Wednesday’s 10-9 shocking loss to Houston Christian at Russo Park.
It was one thing seeing the pitchers get hit hard at Coastal Carolina last weekend, but the four-game totals are unfamiliar heading into Friday’s 6 p.m. Sun Belt series opener against Southern Miss.
Over the last four games, UL pitching has allowed 41 hits, 20 walks and struck out 38 with an 8.00 ERA.
Now comes the chore of getting back to where the pitching has been prior to going to Conway, South Carolina.
“What our ballpark has a tendency to do to people is neutralize you a little bit,” UL coach Matt Deggs said. “We see it ourselves. You’ve got to be able to play a different style here, meaning you’ve got to put the ball in play, you’ve got to stay low and hard. Anything in the air, especially when it’s warm, is going to be an out. And you’ve got to be able to use the short game to get you going.
“You’re not going to just pop balls up here and they’re gone here. It’s a very fair ballpark in that you can get away with a mistake on the mound. You can still run it out of here, but you’re going to have to find the barrel.”
Normal Sunday starter Carson Fluno actually pitched 2.2 innings to finish out Wednesday’s game, not allowing any runs on 32 pitches.
The Cajuns will be counting heavily on Friday night’s combination of Andrew Herrmann and LP Langevin. Herrmann only lasted 1.2 innings in the 9-1 loss last Friday.
“With us, it never boils down with the opponent,” Deggs said. “If you look at us having success versus not having success, it’s about freebies. We’ve got to get strike one more consistently, finish at-bats and just eat up and dominate routine plays.”
Another big part of Wednesday’s loss was not driving in runs. The Cajuns actually outhit Houston Christian 10-9 and walked seven times to just two, but stranded 14 hitters to only three for the Huskies.
The Eagles’ top two starters all season have Billy Oldham (5-1, 4.13 ERA) and Niko Mazza (6-3, 4.82) with 10 starts apiece, while Will Armistead (1-1, 5.49) has nine starts.
Offensively, Southern Miss is led by Dalton McIntyre (.397, 2 HRs, 23 RBIs), Davis Gillespie (.315, 6 HRs, 22 RBIs) and Slade Wilks (.297, 9 HRs, 37 RBIs).
“They’re a good ball club,” Deggs said. “They’ve got a really good track record over recent years. They can pitch, got good arms and one of the more well-balanced teams in the league.
“Both teams want to get after each other. There’s no doubt about that. There’s going to be emotion and there’s going to be intensity, but that’s the way the game should be played.”
The series is huge in the Sun Belt because UL is 31-12 overall and 15-3 in league play, or four games up on Troy, Coastal Carolina and Southern Miss – all at 11-7.
Also, UL enters the weekend with an RPI of 57 and Southern Miss is 46.
“I really want to see this ball club get to 40 wins before the regular season is over,” Deggs said. “Getting to 30 was tough, but this will be the hardest part of the climb.
“Were going to need all hands on deck. Cajun Nation needs to show up in droves, rowdy and ready to go this weekend.”
It figures to be an eventful weekend with alumni activities, led by honoring the 2014 team.
“We’re a traveling circus as it is,” Deggs said of the potential distractions. “We’ve got enough stuff going on with us that you never know, which I like. Every good team has stuff. I don’t see us getting bogged down in anything. That’s my job. We just have to go out and play.”
