UL Baseball Hosts Texas Southern In Non-Conference Series

The seventh ranked Louisiana Ragin' Cajun baseball team returns to the diamond on Friday evening, playing host to the Texas Southern Tigers in the opening game of a three-game, weekend, non-conference series at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field.

This will mark the final non-conference series before the start of Sun Belt Conference play for Louisiana, who opens up league play March 14, in Monroe, against ULM.

The Cajuns, who had their scheduled non-conference tilt against Southeastern Louisiana postponed on Wednesday, and who haven't played since last weekend, are 10-2 on the year, while Texas Southern will come in at 5-8.

Louisiana is currently hitting a .267 as a team, along with six home runs, 66 runs batted in, and 19 stolen bases. UL is led, offensively, by Tyler Girouard and Ryan Wilson, who are both hitting a .333, and Seth Harrison, who has driven home a team-high nine runs.

Texas Southern is currently hitting a .242 as a team, along with two home runs, 40 runs batted in, and 14 stolen bases. The Tigers are paced by Marquis Webb and Jerry Ford, who are hitting a .419 and a .388, respectively.

Pitching-wise, the Cajuns bring in a 2.61 team earned run average into the series. Right-handers Austin Robichaux, who will start on Friday night, and Carson Baranik, who will get the start on Saturday, lead the way, with ERA's of 1.29 and 0.76, respectively.

The Tigers, who currently have an overall 3.19 ERA., are paced by Michael Starkey, who is 1-2 with a 0.93 ERA.

Louisiana leads the all-time series, 12-0, including a 13-0 victory back in 2009, the last time the two schools met.

Game times are 6 o'clock on Friday night, 2 o'clock on Saturday afternoon, and 1 pm on Sunday afternoon.

You can hear Friday night's game on News Talk 96.5 KPEL-FM & kpel965.com, while the games on Saturday and Sunday will be aired on both News Talk 96.5 KPEL-FM & kpel965.com, as well as Sports Radio ESPN 1420 & espn1420.com