Fresno State at Long Beach State
Fresno State ventured to Long Beach, CA to take on the Long Beach State Dirtbags in a non-conference game. The Bulldogs fell 2-1 on Tuesday night. The Bulldogs and Dirtbags combined to use 15 pitchers in the game with no pitcher recording more than three innings of work. The Dogs recorded five hits but scored their only run in the top of the ninth. The Dirtbags scored in the second and the deciding run in the fourth. The Bulldogs fall to 28-24 overall while LBSU improves to 28-17.

Fresno State Recap
Long Beach State Recap

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Tags: Fresno State, Long Beach State, Louisiana Tech, Louisiana-Lafayette, Saint Mary's, San Jose St., WAC

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES

Dallas Baptist 4 at #6 Texas A&M 5

Texas A&M became the nation’s first Division I baseball team to reach the 40-win plateau as the fifth-ranked Aggies rallied for a 5-4 victory over Dallas Baptist Saturday afternoon before… (more)

Dallas Baptist Recap

Louisiana-Lafayette 3 at #9 Nebraska 4

Louisiana-Lafayette 3 at #9 Nebraska 4

Nebraska Recap

Louisiana-Lafayette Recap

Utah Valley State 3 at #10 Oklahoma State 6

Utah Valley State 4 at #10 Oklahoma State 9

OSU Recap

Utah Valley State Recap

Kansas State 7 at #14 Missouri 11

Missouri Recap

KSU Recap

Oklahoma 10 at Kansas 13

Kansas Recap

OU Recap

Tags: Dallas Baptist University, Kansas, Kansas State, Louisiana-Lafayette, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas AM, Utah Valley State

After going 2-6 in their last 8 games, the formerly Top 25 ranked Ragin’ Cajuns (4-9) looked to get back to their winning ways with a three game series against Sun Belt opponent Arkansas State (8-4).

But the Indians would have none of that as they pulled off an impressive three game sweep over Cajuns at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field in Lafayette, Louisiana this weekend.

Due to inclement weather, the teams played a doubleheader on Saturday with ASU winning 3-0 and 9-5 respectively. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Arizona, FAU, FIU, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Middle Tennessee, New Orleans, Notre Dame, Sun Belt, Texas AM CC, Top 25, Western Kentucky

FROM PRESS RELEASES

Louisiana 2 Army 1

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Preseason Sun Belt Conference Pitcher of the Year Danny Farquhar allowed two hits, while striking out nine and walking four across six strong innings and Justin Robichaux came on to strike out the side in the ninth inning as 19th-ranked Louisiana-Lafayette survived a scare from Army, winning 2-1 in the opening game of the UTSA Baseball Classic at Wolff Stadium. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Army, Louisiana-Lafayette, Oral Roberts, Patriot League, Summit League, Sun Belt

The University of Texas-San Antonio is hosting a great tournament on the opening weekend. Joining the Roadrunners this season is Army, Louisiana-Lafayette, Texas Tech, and Oral Roberts. The Red Raiders were a late addition to the tournament as Northern Illinois backed out of a three game set due to the tragedies on their campus last year. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Army, Big 12, Louisiana-Lafayette, Oral Roberts, Patriot League, Series Preview, Southland Conference, Summit League, Sun Belt, Texas San Antonio, Texas Tech

The Texas Tech Red Raiders have been added to the UTSA Baseball Classic this weekend after having to cancel their series against Northern Illinois after the tragedies that took place on that campus last week. The Red Raiders will open up play against Louisiana on Saturday at 10 am. They will then play Army on Sunday at 10 am and finish play against UTSA on Monday at 2 pm. The full release from Texas Tech is available here.

Tags: Army, Big 12, Louisiana-Lafayette, Northern Illinois, Patriot League, Southland Conference, Sun Belt, Texas Tech, UT-San Antonio

LAFAYETTE - Twenty-four home games, in addition to seven contests televised locally on KLAF-TV Channel 17, highlight Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns baseball’s 56-game schedule which was announced Oct. 18 by head coach Tony Robichaux.

Louisiana’s schedule features six teams that participated in the NCAA Regionals a year ago, including NCAA College World Series participant Rice. Last season, the Cajuns, which won the 2007 Sun Belt Conference regular season title, finished with a 45-17 overall record after falling in the NCAA College Station Regional championship game.

The Cajuns open the 2008 season Feb. 22-24 at the Texas-San Antonio Tournament in San Antonio, Texas, against Army, Oral Roberts and Texas-San Antonio. UL then faces the Tulane Green Wave in New Orleans on Feb. 27. UL will open the home portion of its 2008 season with a home tournament, featuring Southern Miss, Miami (Ohio) and New Orleans. The Cajuns will face the Miami Redhawks once and the Southern Miss Golden Eagles twice during the weekend.

After a non-conference tilt on the road with the Houston Cougars on March 4, Louisiana returns home for a four-game homestand featuring a Wednesday contest Southeastern Louisiana (March 5) and a three-game conference series against Arkansas State (March 7-9).

Louisiana’s solid non-conference schedule concludes with Louisiana State (April 29) and a three-game series at NCAA Regional participant Nebraska (May 2-4). The Cajuns’ trip to Baton Rouge marks the first meeting in the series since the 2002 NCAA Regional at Alex Box Stadium.

For the fourth time, Louisiana’s M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field will host the Sun Belt Conference Championship May 21-24. Since joining the Sun Belt, the Cajuns have also hosted the conference tournament in 1997, 2001 and 2003.

Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns will hold their annual Red-White Fall World Series at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field beginning with game one on Thursday, Nov. 1.

Complete schedule

Tags: Louisiana-Lafayette, Sun Belt

Texas A&M 5 Louisiana 2

Texas A&M picked up a 5-2 victory over the Ragin‘ Cajuns in an elimination game for both teams. The Aggies used a complete game from Kyle Thebeau who struck out 13 batters including the last five he faced as he led the Aggies to the victory. Kyle Colligan went 3-4 with an RBI to lead the Aggies offense. The Aggies will head to Houston to take on Rice in a Super Regional while Louisiana will end the season with a 45-17 record.

Texas A&M Recap
Louisiana Recap

Tags: Louisiana-Lafayette, NCAA Tourney, Texas AM

Texas A&M 10, Ohio State 4: Blake Stouffer doubled in the eighth inning, completing the cycle and leading Texas A&M to a 10-4 victory in an elimination game Sunday afternoon.

Stouffer’s double was his seventh straight hit in the tournament, and it drove in his sixth run of the game.

It was the junior first baseman’s second cycle of the season. Only Derek Nicholson of Florida and Spencer Oborn of BYU in 1998 had previously hit for the cycle twice in the same season. Stouffer posted his first cycle in a win over Jacksonville State.

“It was exciting. You’ve got to live for the moment, soak it up,” Stouffer said. “It is a great feeling, but we still have some more to do.”

He hit a three-run homer, his 11th, in the third to put A&M up 4-0, tripled in Brandon Hicks in the fifth and got it all started with an RBI single in the first.

“He’s just an outstanding hitter, a quality baseball player,” Ohio State coach Bob Todd said. “On two of the at-bats we were trying to pitch around him.”

Kirkland Rivers started for the Aggies, going four innings and giving up three runs.

Gary Campfield came in with two runners on and no outs in the fifth. The Buckeyes got a sacrifice fly out of cleanup hitter Justin Miller, but Campfield struck out Ohio State’s leading home run hitter, Jason Zoeller, to end the inning.

Campfield finished the game and earned the win, getting a key double play on a liner back to the mound in the eighth.

“Gary Campfield came in and did what we needed him to do, and that was for us not to go back into the bullpen,” Childress said.”

Texas A&M 4 Louisiana-Lafayette 1!

It’s necessary!

Texas A&M came back from the losers’ bracket to win two games on Sunday and force a deciding game against Louisiana-Lafayette, the same team the Aggies defeated 4-1 in the second game Sunday night.

“It was an extremely long day, but fun day,” Texas A&M coach Rob Childress said. “The first game it was hot and took a lot out of us.

“But like [Louisiana-Lafayette coach] Tony Robichaux said last night, ‘we haven’t won anything yet.’ “

Scott Migl (7-3) gave the Aggies an opportunity to win the regional by pitching his best game of the season, scattering nine hits while not walking a batter over 7-plus innings. The only inning he allowed the leadoff hitter to reach base was the eighth.

Texas A&M Recap

Louisiana-Lafaytte Recap

Ohio-State Recap

Tags: Louisiana-Lafayette, Ohio State, Texas AM

Matt Angle Single in 10th keeps Ohio State alive in NCAA tournament, Buckeyes down Le Moyne 6-5!

Junior captain Matt Angle delivered a clutch two-out, RBI single in the bottom of the 10th inning as Ohio State stayed alive in the NCAA College Station Regional with a 6-5 win Saturday over Le Moyne at Olsen Field in College Station, Texas.

With runners on second and third and two outs in the bottom of the 10th, Angle (Jr., Whitehall, Ohio/Whitehall-Yearling) slapped a hit between the third baseman and the shortstop, bringing home J.B. Shuck (So., Galion, Ohio/Galion) with the winning run and eliminating the Dolphins (34-19).

Cory Luebke, the Big Ten Pitcher of the Year, pitched a career-high 10 innings for his ninth win and third complete game of the year. Luebke (Jr., Maria Stein, Ohio/Marion Local) improved to 9-1 despite not being as sharp as he has been for most of the year. He allowed five earned runs on nine hits, striking out seven and walking none.

The No. 3 seed Buckeyes (38-23) advance to face the loser of the winner’s bracket final between No. 1 seed Texas A&M and No. 2 seed Louisiana-Lafayette at 2 p.m. ET Sunday. The winner of that game will advance to play the undefeated team in the championship at 8 p.m. Sunday. If the undefeated team loses, the second championship game will be played Monday at 7:30 p.m. Louisiana-Lafayette sent OSU to the loser’s bracket with a 5-4 win Friday.

The winner of the regional advances to a best-of-three super regional and will play the winner of the Rice Regional that includes Rice, Prairie View, Baylor and Texas Christian.

The Buckeyes jumped out on top early, scoring a run in the bottom of the first. Angle was hit by a pitch with one out and moved to third on an Eric Fryer (Jr., Reynoldsburg, Ohio/Reynoldsburg) single and a Justin Miller (So., Dayton, Va./Turner Ashby) deep fly ball before scoring on a Jason Zoeller (Sr., Verona, Pa./Shady Side Academy) single.

Le Moyne tied it at 1-all in the top of the second before OSU regained the lead, 3-1, with two runs in the bottom of the second. Cory Rupert (Fr., Mansfield, Ohio/Mansfield Madison) and Cory Kovanda (Fr., Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) reached on back to back walks with one out, and after a fielder’s choice, Angle delivered with a two-RBI single.

The Ohio State lead didn’t last long as the Dolphins scored one run in the third and three more in the fourth for a 5-3 advantage.

The Buckeyes would equalize at 5-all with two runs in the bottom of the fourth. With two outs, Jacob Howell (Sr., Ashland, Ohio/Ashland) uncorked a shot over the right field wall to tie the game. It was his fourth home run of the season.

Luebke held Le Moyne scoreless for the next six innings, while the Buckeyes were held without a run for five innings until Angle’s game-winning hit in the 10th.

Eric Beaulac started for Le Moyne and only lasted five innings, giving up five earned runs on seven hits. He walked two and struck out none. Ryan Woods relieved Beaulac in the sixth and went 4.2 innings before Angle’s hit. Woods gave up just one earned run on seven hits, walking one.

The Buckeyes had 14 hits in the game, Le Moyne nine. Howell, Angle, Zoeller, Shuck, Rupert and Kovanda all had two hits in the game. Angle had three RBI and Howell two.

Ohio State Recap
Lemoyne Recap

Louisiana-Lafayette’s Jefferies Tatford wasn’t getting any help from his fellow outfielder, so it wasn’t until he felt the ball hit his palm that he knew he’d thwarted a ninth-inning Texas A&M rally.

With the NCAA College Station Regional’s top-seeded Aggies trailing by two runs, Tatford pulled in a potential game-tying home run by Craig Stinson for the second out of the ninth. Luke Anders doubled to drive in Blake Stouffer and cut the Ragin’ Cajuns’ lead to one, but that’s where it stayed as Louisiana-Lafayette won the winners’ bracket final 5-4 on Saturday at Olsen Field.

Tatford’s catch in left field was the biggest defensive play in a game that included four ULL errors.

“I couldn’t hear anything,” Tatford said. “Usually outfield communications are pretty easy, so I really put it in my mind not to worry about running into the wall, and luckily it fell into my glove.”

Tatford said the Olsen Field crowd of 5,810 almost kept him from making the catch.

“The crowd … every time [A&M] hit a popup, they make that loud noise to mess with the outfielders,” Tatford said. “They were hostile all night, and communication was going to be they key, but I really couldn’t hear anything.”

Tatford said he didn’t know he was going to catch the towering shot until “after I felt it hit my palm, because I really didn’t see it. My forearm was definitely over the wall.”

ULL took a 5-3 lead after Jonathan Lecroy’s eighth-inning solo homer, his 18th of the season.

Stouffer got his third hit of the game with a double to the wall in the ninth. He stood near second watching Stinson’s fly ball.

“I’ve seen Craig take a 1,000 swings, so I knew he hadn’t hit it on the screws but well enough to get over the wall,” said Stouffer, who tagged up and moved to third on the play. “I actually thought it had gone out.”

A&M (45-17) will face Ohio State at 1 p.m. Sunday with the winner advancing to face ULL (45-15) at 7 p.m. in the championship. Kirkland Rivers, who started A&M’s Big 12 Tournament victory over Texas, will start against Ohio State. OSU did not name a starter.

If ULL loses Sunday night, the teams would play again at 6:30 p.m. Monday for a berth in next week’s Super Regionals against the winner of the Houston Regional.

ULL followed up Kyle Nicholson’s first two walks with three singles for three runs in the seventh inning to take a 4-3 lead.

Nicholson (11-2), who lost for the first time since Feb. 9 against Arizona State, had faced only two over the minimum until the Cajuns came within one hitter of batting around in the seventh.

“I thought Nicholson had an incredible start. He competed his tail off,” A&M coach Rob Childress said. “He’s our guy and if I’m going to lose a game I’m going to lose it with Kyle Nicholson on the mound.”

After leaving the bases loaded in the third, the Aggies got on the board in the fourth when Colligan hit the first pitch over the left-field fence for his ninth homer of the season.

Brodie Greene then walked on four pitches, and after Parker Dalton sacrificed Greene to second, Brian Ruggiano chopped a double over the drawn-in third baseman Matt Hicks to drive in Greene. Hicks was playing in because the Aggies already had reached base four times on bunts, including one by Ruggiano.

ULL starter Hunter Moody lasted 6 2/3 innings, giving up three runs on eight hits with nine strikeouts.

Moody beat the Aggies in San Antonio last season on a three-hitter. Three players from the present Aggie team faced Moody that day, going a combined 1 for 10 with Dalton getting the one hit.

On Saturday, Stouffer, Stinson and Dalton went 2 for 8, with Stouffer sending Moody to the showers with a homer in the sixth. It was Stouffer’s 10th homer of the season, and it gave A&M a 3-1 lead.

But the Aggies stranded 13 baserunners, including seven in scoring position. And when A&M had chances for big innings against Moody, the Cajun starter found ways to escape innings.

“Speed is such a weapon night in night out, and [A&M] did a great job using it, but one thing [Moody] did was he bent but didn’t break,” ULL coach Tony Robichaux said. “They could have set up huge innings right there with the crowd creating havoc, and they did a good job but Hunter did a better job of settling down.”

Andrew Laughter (3-1) pitched the final 2 1/3 innings to pick up the victory.

Aggie shortstop Brandon Hicks had 10 assists with no errors. As a team, A&M played errorless baseball, while ULL committed four errors.

The Eagle Press.com

Texas A&M Recap
Louisiana-Lafayette Recap

Tags: Lemoyne, Louisiana-Lafayette, NCAA Tourney, Ohio State, Texas AM

Xavier Alexander’s double into the left-center gap in the bottom of the ninth knocked in the winning run and propelled Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns to a dramatic 5-4 win over Ohio State in first round action at the NCAA College Station Regional on the Texas A&M campus.

Devon Bourque’s two out single off reliever Rory Meister (4-7) set the table for Alexander, who entered the game in the eighth as a pinch hitter. Alexander lined the first pitch into the gap and Bourque raced home all the way from first, easily beating the throw to the plate.

It looked as though the second-seeded Cajuns might squander another chance in the ninth inning after Nolan Gisclair singled with one out, but was thrown out trying to steal second. Bourque then lined his single, and Alexander delivered his game winner for Louisiana (44-15).

Ragin Cajun Recap

Ohio Stae Recap

Tags: Louisiana-Lafayette, Ohio State

COLLEGE STATION REGIONAL
vs Houston Regional

The Field

(1) Texas A&M (44-16)

The Aggies were probably the nation�s best turnaround story this season. In Rob Childress� first season last year, A&M went 25-30-1. This season, they had 25 wins on April 1st. They were in the running for a national seed for most of the season, but a .500 finish in conference hurt. But the Aggies rebounded from a season-ending sweep vs. Texas by winning the Big 12 tourney, including knocking off the ‘Horns in pool play, and a 14-6 win over Baylor in the title game. They�re hosting for the first time since 2003.

(2) Louisiana-Lafayette (43-15)

The Ragin� Cajuns were in the running for a #1 seed until the end, but the Sun Belt�s regular-season champions fell short in the tournament title game, and that may have cost them their shot at a #1 and a regional at home. If there�s any consolation, they�re the highest #2 seed in the field.

(3) Ohio State (37-22)

The Buckeyes were SCS.com�s preseason pick to win the Big Ten title. Turns out they did end up doing it, but not in the fashion they were expected to. They finished .500 in the Big Ten, and got into the conference tournament on the final day, but ended up sweeping through it, knocking off the top three seeds to win the title.

(4) Le Moyne (34-17)

Manhattan looked set to run away with the Metro Atlantic, starting conference play 19-0. But the Dolphins stole their thunder, sweeping the Jaspers on the road late in the season and swiping the regular-season title, then did it again in the MAAC tournament to book their spot in the field of 64.

Southerncollegesports,com

Tags: Louisiana-Lafayette, NCAA Tourney, Ohio State, Texas AM

New Orleans took the Sun Belt title by knocking off Louisiana 8-2. Stephen Whalen (7-5) pitched three shutout innings in relief to pick up the victory for the Privateers while Ragin‘ Cajuns starter Buddy Glass lasted only 4.1 innings while giving up four runs to drop his record to 7-4. Johnny Giavotella went 2-3 with a homer and two runs scored to lead the Privateers offense. Josh Logan went 3-4 in the losing effort for Louisiana. Both teams will await the NCAA seedings which are released on Monday.

UNO Recap
Louisiana Recap
Daily Advertiser Recap

Tags: Louisiana-Lafayette, New Orleans, Sun Belt

Game 5: No. 6 Florida Atlantic 7, No. 7 Western Kentucky 6 (WKU Eliminated)

FAU Recap

Western Kentucky Recap

Game 6: No. 8 South Alabama 5, No. 5 Louisiana-Monroe 3 (ULM Eliminated)

USA Recap

ULM Recap

Game 7: No. 2 New Orleans 7, No. 3 Middle Tennessee 5

UNO Recap

Middle Tennessee State Recap

Game 8: No. 1 Louisiana 9, No. 4 Troy 7

Louisiana Recap

Troy Recap

The Daily Advertiser Recap

Tags: FAU, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Middle Tennessee, New Orleans, South Alabama, Sun Belt, Troy, Western Kentucky

The Sunbelt tournament started yesterday with the following games at South Alabama. A recap of the full game is available at The Daily Advertiser. Click here for a full day recap.

Middle Tennessee 6 Florida Atlantic 1

Recap

New Orleans 11 Western Kentucky 6

Recap

Troy 7 Louisiana-Monroe 0

Recap

Louisiana 3 South Alabama 2
(10 innings)

Recap
The Daily Advertiser Game Article

There has also been some talk about the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns hosting a NCAA Regional in the first round of the upcoming tournament. The full article can be found here. My projections have Louisiana going to Arkansas for the NCAA Regionals. The projections are available here.

Tags: FAU, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Middle Tennessee, NCAA Tourney, New Orleans, Regional Projections, South Alabama, Troy, Western Kentucky