Cajuns looking to regain momentum against Southern Mississippi

As UL prepares for their midweek contest with Southern Mississippi Tuesday, Cajuns coach Tony Robichaux was probably hoping to go into Hattiesburg, Mississippi, with a little more momentum.

Actually, the Cajuns were riding high into last weekend’s Georgia State series after taking two of three from South Alabama the previous weekend and a big 6-5 win over LSU in the Wally Pontiff Classic last Tuesday.

The Cajuns even took an 8-4 lead into the eighth inning against Sun Belt Conference-leading Texas-Arlington Thursday night. With Gunner Leger on the mound to close the game out, it appeared the Cajuns were going to ride that momentum to their first over .500 record of the season.

“We had everything set up properly,” said Robichaux. “We got the big lead and the right guy in the right place. Then all of a sudden, he didn't pitch the way he’s capable of. He gets a ground-ball double play in the ninth that we just didn’t get turned over.

“We did everything we needed to do to win that game; we just didn't finish it.”

UTA rallied to win Thursday 9-8 and also won Friday and Saturday to sweep the Cajuns over the weekend. Gone is the momentum of the previous weekend and gone was a chance to knock off the No. 1 team in the conference. Robichaux said the sting from the weekend hurts.

“The biggest thing that hurt was the momentum after being dumped on Thursday,” he said. “That hurts. We get two out of three from South Al and a midweek game against LSU. We had some decent momentum built up for the weekend, but it didn't turn out the way we wanted Thursday.

“We had Gunner in a good position. We had a one-run lead in the ninth and I thought we could have potentially ended the game there with the double play. The whole story, throughout the year, is we have struggled after the seventh inning. 

The Cajuns bullpen allowed a three-run inning in each of the three losses to UTA over the weekend. Robichaux often preaches of avoiding the “crooked number” in an inning and he said the bullpen has at times avoided it, but it’s a big reason for the back end of games getting out of hand.

“We have had a couple of weeks where we’ve pitched well out of the pen,” Robichaux said. “We did at LSU on Tuesday — but this weekend, we just didn't get enough pitching on the back end of the games. The starters gave us a chance to win, but we just let the games get away and that has been our consistency all year. We just can't handle the back end of the game. 

The Cajuns now must get ready for Tuesday’s game against Southern Miss. UL beat the Golden Eagles in 12 innings back in March. But Robichaux said USM is a much different team since that game. In fact, the Golden Eagles are coming off a three-game sweep of Charlotte. Robichaux said the Cajuns enjoy playing Southern Miss and he said the game will be a good chance to get back on script.

“Southern Miss is always a good team and we feel we are as well,” Robichaux said. “We’re just in a tough season this year. Southern Miss is always tough and the crowd over there is tough. It’s a good series between two good programs that have history.

“They’re playing better since they left us and we are coming off a tough weekend. We come back from last weekend with nothing and that hurts. We have to move forward. I think if we stay on script, we can beat anybody. If you look at the games we lost, we’ve gotten away from the script. We know we’re right there, but when an inning starts spinning out of control, we have to do a better job containing it.”