Coach Deggs declares team has moxie as conference play starts

Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns baseball opened its conference schedule on Friday, March 15 with their first match of a three-game series against the Arkansas State Red Wolves.

Winning two out of three games the previous weekend against a talented Tulane Green Wave team, both in walk-off fashion to improve the Cajuns’ overall record to 8–7, was an outcome that head coach Matt Deggs had been anticipating since fall practice.

“I thought this in the fall, I thought we would win gritty. I didn’t think there would be a lot of pretty wins,” Deggs said in a March 11 press conference. “There’s not a whole lot of pretty to us, but it is a lot of grit.”

“We just keep playing, a lot of passion, right? Just keep playing, and yesterday kind of proved that out.”

“Those boys, our guys deserved that yesterday, cause we haven’t gotten a lot of breaks. Now some of that’s self-imposed, obviously, but haven’t gotten a lot of breaks,” Deggs said. 

“We’ve got a puncher’s chance every night because of our pitching, they’re gonna hold it close.”

In Friday evening’s match against Arkansas State, LP Langevin drew his third start of the season and struggled uncharacteristically early, loading the bases and allowing a run in his first inning.

A lineout into a double play prevented too much damage, but trouble continued in the second, as Arkansas’ Wil French blasted a three-run home run over right field, prompting a mound visit for the Cajuns.

The Louisiana offense failed to answer through three innings, and David Christie would come in for relief for the Cajuns, as Langevin had already thrown 68 pitches by that point.

The Cajuns wouldn’t find any offensive rhythm until the fifth, when a Caleb Stelly drawn walk and Josh Alexander single would be patiently rewarded by Kyle DeBarge’s left-field RBI hit. A bad pitch would then get DeBarge home to bring the score to 3–4.

In the bottom of the sixth, Christie would be relieved with runners on first and second after intentionally walking French, giving Blake McGehee the reins in a crunch-time situation. Unfortunately for McGehee, Arkansas’ Blake Burris attacked the first pitch of his at-bat, and a fielding error by Stelly resulted in two runs scored to put the game seemingly out of reach, 3–6.

In the seventh, the Cajuns’ John Taylor answered with a first-pitch shot of his home for a solo home run to give the home team some hope. The core of the lineup would again work their magic, and Jose Torres finished the effort with a two-RBI double to even the game up, 6–6.

Matthew Holzhammer came in relief for the Cajuns the following inning, where disaster arrived in the form of another Wil French homer, this time a grand slam to help shut the door on the Cajuns. The final score would end 8–11.

In that same March 11 press conference from earlier, Coach Deggs talked about what starting the SBC conference schedule means to play in and the difficulties that teams and staff face.

“Heading into what I call a new season,” Deggs said. 

“It’s a ten-week war out there, battle, whatever you wanna call it metaphorically. This is a nasty league, it’s personal on many fronts for every team,” he continued.

“They all play with a tremendous amount of energy, and if you give them an inch, they’re gonna take a mile, and they’re not gonna feel bad about it,” Deggs stated. 

“We’re excited about starting the league, there’s a lot of expectation, obviously, we’ve been very blessed and had a great run in leagues throughout my career and the history of this program.”

Next up on the schedule for the Cajuns is a three-game home series against the Old Dominion Monarchs starting Friday, March 22, followed by a midweek match against the Grambling State Tigers on March 26.