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People SearchFind an individual who either played a sport or was a member of a support group. Search by last name by clicking on the first letter of the person's last name.
Mr. Zach Osborne
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Home Phone: -- Baseball: Osborne does it all for Cajuns Joshua Parrott � jparrott@theadvertiser.com � April 28, 2009 From the moment Zach Osborne arrived on UL’s campus, he has done whatever UL baseball coach Tony Robichaux asked of him. Be the team’s Friday starter despite being a reliever in junior college? Check. Move to the bullpen after struggling as a starter? Sure. Reassume the No. 1 starter’s role and dominate? No problem. Osborne came up huge when the Cajuns needed him the most last Friday, throwing a four-hit complete game in a 5-0 win over Troy to end a five-game losing streak. In addition to striking out five and not walking a batter in his sixth NCAA Division I start, the junior right-hander helped the Cajuns snap a six-game slide in Sun Belt Conference play. On Monday, Osborne was named the Sun Belt Conference’s Pitcher of the Week. He earned the same honor three weeks ago as a reliever. “I’ve just been doing what coach needs for me to do,” said Osborne, a transfer from New Mexico Junior College. “If he needs me to start, I’ll do it. If he needs me to come out of the bullpen, I’ll do it.” In silencing the Trojans, Osborne got UL off to a strong start. The Cajuns went on to win two of the three games and take the series from third-place Troy and moved up one spot to sixth in the conference standings. Osborne’s complete game was the first of the year for UL (20-21-1), which plays host at 6:30 tonight to McNeese State (19-21). Although he stands 6-foot-5, the Houston native is not a power pitcher. His three-quarters arm slot makes it hard for batters to pick up the ball. He is at his best when locating his pitches, staying ahead in the count and getting movement on his two-seam fastball, which usually produces a high number of groundballs. In 12 appearances this season, Osborne has a 3-2 record with a 3.49 ERA – the fourth-best mark in the league. So far in 56.2 innings, he has a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 36 to 6. His 2.74 ERA in league play is the best in the conference. “Zach had thrown well at times this year, but he hadn’t put it all together as a starter,” Robichaux said. “He got ahead in the count and kept the ball down (against Troy).” Osborne has been doing that since his days as a pitcher at Clear Lake High in Houston. After being a reliever during his junior season, Osborne became a starter as a senior to help a team that lacked depth at that spot and garnered first team all-district and second team all-Houston honors in 2006. Multiple junior colleges and a handful of NCAA Division I schools, including Stephen F. Austin and Rice, showed interest in him at the time. He ultimately signed with New Mexico Junior College, the NJCAA Division I national champion in 2005. Osborne got limited opportunities to throw as a freshman in 2007, going 1-0 with a 3.97 ERA in four appearances. That season, the Thunderbirds finished second at the NJCAA Division I national tournament. The following fall, Osborne caught the attention of then-UL assistant John Szefc after throwing in the Texas Junior College All-Star game at Baylor University. Within 24 hours after the game, Osborne said had got calls from at least 13 DI schools, including LSU, Miami, Penn State, Texas Tech, Houston and Lamar. In the end, Osborne signed with UL over Lamar in November 2007. “Everything seemed right,” Osborne said of his visit to UL. “It was only three hours from home. The team was ranked 18th in the nation at the time. The school always had a good tradition and a good fan base. “The next weekend I went to Lamar, and it just didn’t feel the same.” As a sophomore, Osborne improved to 5-1 with a 3.07 ERA in 17 appearances. In 58.2 innings, he struck out 73 batters and issued only 12 walks. His skills drew the interest of the Atlanta Braves, who selected Osborne in the 35th round with the 1,060th overall pick last summer. That was one spot after ex-UL lefty Hunter Moody went to the Toronto Blue Jays. Osborne knew he would have a chance to improve his draft stock if he came to UL, so he did. After a strong showing in the Fall World Series, he was named the Friday starter going into the 2009 season. Osborne threw well in the season opener against Nebraska, giving up two runs – one earned – in six innings but got a no-decision. That’s when his season started to go up and down. Osborne dropped his next two starts and bounced back and forth as a starter and reliever until earning one victory and one save in a three-game sweep of then-Sun Belt leader Middle Tennessee in early April to earn league pitcher of the week honors. He was touched for five runs in his next two relief appearances but only two were earned in 6.1 innings. That set up last Friday’s four-hitter at Troy. “I’ve always liked coming out of the bullpen,” Osborne said. “But I like things about starting and closing. The good thing about being a starter is that I can come in and help us get off to a great start and set the pace for the rest of the team.” * * * * * * * * * Baseball: Osborne Picks Up Sun Belt Honors, Again April 27, 2009 NEW ORLEANS � For the second-straight week and the third time this season Middle Tennessee�s Bryce Brentz is the Sun Belt Conference Baseball Player of the Week, while Louisiana-Lafayette�s Zach Osborne picks up his second Pitcher of the Week citation of the 2009 campaign. Brentz led Middle Tennessee to a 3-2 record last week, including a 10-6 win at SEC foe Mississippi State and a series triumph at fellow Sun Belt member South Alabama. The Knoxville, Tennessee native hit a stellar .636 (9-14) in the Blue Raiders� five contests with three doubles, a pair of homers and nine RBI. He also had an on-base percentage of .900 and a slugging percentage of 1.375. It is the second straight week Brentz hit .600 or better in five games. The sophomore also worked four innings on the mound against the Jaguars on Friday night, allowing just three runs on seven hits. On the season, Brentz is batting nearly .500 (51-75) with a dozen doubles, two triples, 21 home runs and 55 RBI. Moreover, he is listed among the top-10 players nationally in four statistical categories, including batting average, home runs per game, home runs and slugging percentage. Osborne tossed Louisiana-Lafayette�s first complete game of the season against Troy in shut out fashion, dominating the Sun Belt’s hottest offense with his four-hit outing to snap the Trojans� nine-game winning streak and halt a six-game conference skid for the Ragin� Cajuns. In his nine innings of work, the Houston, Texas native also struck out four without surrendering a single walk. With the shutout, Osborne not only dropped his own ERA from 4.15 to 3.49, but single-handedly lowered the team’s from 5.30 to 5.16. The junior, right-handed-hurler, has also registered a 3-2 record on the season, with one save and 36 strikeouts. Through games of Sunday, April 26, Osborne has the fourth-best overall ERA in the Sun Belt and the best ERA against conference opponents, at 2.74. John L. Strawn * * * * * * * * * * April 6, 2009 Baseball: LOUISIANA’S RAGIN’ CAJUNS SWEEP SUN BELT BASEBALL WEEKLY AWARDS NEW ORLEANS � Louisiana-Lafayette�s Greg Fontenot and Zach Osborne are the Sun Belt Conference Baseball Player and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, as voted on by the league�s member institutions. Fontenot, a local Lafayette product, put an impressive week as the Cajuns rolled to four-straight wins, including a series sweep of conference foe Middle Tennessee. The sophomore was instrumental in ULL�s victories, helping on both sides of the ball with his errorless performance at shortstop and his .583 batting average. Overall he maintained a .667 on-base percentage, scoring five times throughout the four-game stretch, while adding six RBI. On both Saturday and Sunday, he was responsible for what became the game-winning RBIs in come-from-behind victories over league-leading Middle Tennessee. Fontenot also laid down three sacrifice bunts during the week and was 2-for-2 in stolen bases. Fontenot was a tough out, as he struck out only once. He successfully advanced runners at an .800 clip, while batting 5-for-7 with runners on base and a clutch 2-for-2 with the bases loaded. He was 4-for-5 with runners in scoring position and 4-for-4 with runners on second and third. Fontenot finished the week with an impressive 1.250 OPS. Osborne was untouchable this week, earning a win and a save in seven innings of dominant work across two appearances, including one perfect outing, both against the hot bats of Middle Tennessee. The Blue Raiders came into Friday’s game ranked in the top 20 nationally in six different offensive categories, and Osborne shut them down Friday night and dominated again on Sunday. He threw 3 1/3 innings of perfect relief work Friday, setting 10 batters down in order to make the Cajuns’ come-from-behind rally standup. To close the game, Osborne struck out all three batters in the Raider’s last try, all swinging. On Sunday, Osborne struck out the first two batters he faced, both swinging, and went on to strike out two more, fanning four in 12 batters faced. He earned the save while allowing just one hit. For the week, batters hit .048 off Osborne (1-for-21, single), and he allowed no sacrifices and threw no wild pitches. He finished the week averaging 11.57 strikeouts per game and 28.29 batters per game, just 1.29 over the minimum. Via the Sun Belt Conference office. John L. Strawn
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