The Southern baseball team spent the weekend losing to the weather but hopes to get back on track this week with a pair of midweek games going into the second Southwestern Athletic Conference weekend.
The Jaguars (4-11, 0-1) had two games of their home series against Texas Southern rained out, but they jump back into play at p.m. Tuesday at UL in Lafayette. The Jaguars also have a makeup game at 6 p.m. Wednesday at home against Southern University of New Orleans.
Southern’s one weekend game was a disappointment. The Jaguars fell behind, then rallied to tie Texas Southern, but they ultimately lost as a ninth-inning rally fell short. The game ended with the tying run on third base in an 8-7 loss.
Khyle Radlciffe and Ryan Ollison hit home runs in the ninth. Radcliffe, the team’s leading hitter, also had a double. Radcliffe leads Southern with a .358 batting average, four homers and 15 RBIs.
“We fought back, we hit the ball well, but we came up just short,” Southern coach Chris Crenshaw said. “We made some adjustments to the practice schedule. We’ve been coming out at the beginning not focused, so I changed some things in practice that will hopefully carry over into the games. They’re overanalyzing instead of playing free.”
The Jaguars will make up one of the rained-out games when they travel to Texas Southern April 19-21. After the two midweek games, Southern plays a three-game series at Alcorn State. Southern beat Alcorn 10-4 in the season opener at the Cactus Jack Classic in Houston.
“Five games this week is going to be rough,” Crenshaw said. “Antoine Harris is going to start one game; we have to get him going. Drew (Lasseigne) or Jaden (Brasseaux) might start the other one. We want to get them some work and get them out of there.”
Crenshaw is also trying to get some injured players back and is expected to use outfielders Tyeler Hawkins and Logan Sanders in the midweek games. Crenshaw said first baseman Donny Sanders is still out for at least another week with a knee injury.
“We’re going to try to get Sanders and Hawkins some action this week,” Crenshaw said. “They started running last week. I want to see what they can do. Those guys are explosive players.
“I’ll run a bunch of pitchers out there. Nobody will be out there too long. I’ll use for or five, maybe six, pitchers in each game, an inning or two.”
The Ragin' Cajuns are 11-8 and have won five of their last six games. First baseman Trey LaFleur leads them with a .404 batting average while shortstop Kyle DeBarge is hitting .305 with team bests of eight homers and 23 RBIs.
Murphy Brooks (2-0, 7.11 ERA) started the Cajuns’ last two midweek games, a victory against Louisiana Tech and Northwestern State. He has 11 strikeouts in 6⅓ innings.
SUNO is 4-9 and has lost five consecutive games. Outfielder Kyler Shepherd is batting .359 with eight stolen bases while shortstop D’Eric Chenault is hitting .279 with a homer and seven RBIs.