UL Baseball Entertains Hilltoppers

The top-ranked Louisiana Ragin Cajun baseball team plays their Sun Belt Conference home opener on Friday night, as coach Tony Robichaux’s fifth-ranked squad plays host to the WKU Hilltoppers, in the opening game of a three-game, weekend, league series at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field.

Game times are scheduled for 6 pm Friday, 2 pm on Saturday and 1 pm on Sunday. Catch all the games on the radio, as they can be heard on 96.5 KPEL-FM & kpel965.com.

Louisiana (24-2, 6-0) has won their last 14-consecutive games, including a three-game Sun Belt Conference sweep of the Georgia St. Panthers last weekend, and two non-conference victories over Northwestern St. and Southern this week.

WKU (10-11, 1-2) dropped a non-conference game to Louisville (5-3) this week, after falling in two of three games to the Texas St. Bobcats last weekend.

The Cajuns are hitting .309 as a team, which places them first in the league going into the series, to go along with 30 home runs, 191 runs batted in, and 45 stolen bases, which all lead the conference.

Centerfielder Seth Harrison (.351-5-22) and second baseman Jace Conrad (.340-5-29) lead the Cajuns in hitting, with Conrad pacing the club in runs batted in.

The Hilltopers are currently hitting a .274, which ranks fifth in the league, with ten homers, 102 RBI's, and 15 stolen bases.

Ryan Messex paces WKU, hitting a .361, with five homers and 23 RBI's.

Pitching-wise, Louisiana ranks first in the league, with a 2.28 team ERA., while WKU ranks eighth, at a 4.75.

The Cajuns feature Carson Baranik (5-0, 1.38) and Austin Robichaux (4-1,1.76), who rank first and third in the league, respectively, in terms of ERA. Robichaux will get the start on Friday night, with Baranik getting the call on Saturday, while Cody Boutte (3-0, 4.37) gets the Sunday start.

The Hilltoppers, will counter with right-hander Justin Hagemann (1-1, 2.12) on Friday, left-hander Austin Clay (3-1, 3.82) on Saturday, and right-hander Jake Thompson (2-1, 3.45) on Sunday.

Louisiana leads the all-time series, 42-26.