During its recently completed seven-game homestand, UL’s baseball team posted a 5-2 record with Sun Belt Conference series wins over South Alabama and Arkansas-Little Rock.

Senior outfielder Mike Petello led the charge during that run, hitting .483 with a team-high 14 base hits in those seven games. That raised the University of New Orleans transfer’s batting average from .312 to .344, which is tied for the team lead with senior shortstop Greg Fontenot.

Petello, who hit .467 last week, now leads the team with 18 multi-hit games. Eleven of those multi-hit games came in the past 21 contests after he battled oblique and hamstring injuries earlier in the season.

"He’s one of the most talented players I’ve ever played with," said Cajuns outfielder Alex Fuselier. "I’ve been saying it from the beginning: We were going to be tough to deal with once he and (senior second baseman Jordan) Poirrier got going with me and Greg on the bases."

Those five straight league victories have put the defending league co-champion Ragin’ Cajuns (26-19, 13-8 Sun Belt) back in the mix of the conference race. They’re now tied for second in the league with Florida International (28-16, 13-8) and Florida Atlantic (26-17, 13-8), sitting two games behind Sun Belt leader Troy (31-13, 15-6) with three weeks left in the regular season.

Petello, who tied a school record with two triples in a 6-2 loss to Southeastern Louisiana on April 26, has an eight-game hitting streak going into this weekend when the Cajuns play the first-place Trojans in Troy, Ala.

Winning the Sun Belt title would be nice, Petello said, but "we have our sights set a little bit higher. We’ve just got to keep on winning, and that’s it."

Looking ahead

SEBaseball.com released its most recent projections, and the Cajuns made the cut.

The website projects the Cajuns to be the No. 3 seed in the Houston Regional with top-seeded Rice, No. 2 seed Oklahoma and No. 4 seed Stephen F. Austin. Three other Sun Belt schools — Troy, FIU and FAU — were included in the projections.

Time change

The start time for the Cajuns-Rice game on Tuesday at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field has been moved up from 6 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Rice, ranked No. 24 in the Baseball America Top 25 poll, will visit Moore Field for the first time since February 1993. The Cajuns beat the Owls in Houston, 2-0, on April 5 after Rice stranded a school-record 18 baserunners.

The rematch will be the final Season Ticket Redemption night for Cajuns season ticket holders. Any unused tickets from home games Nos. 1-24 can be redeemed for extras to the game with Rice. Tickets can be redeemed in advance at the Cajundome box office at the Moore Field ticket booth.

Extra Bases

After playing Troy this weekend, the Cajuns close the regular season against MTSU (15-29, 7-14) from May 13-15 and at ULM (22-21, 7-14) from May 19-21 "» Fuselier has hit safely in 24 of the past 27 games he’s played. The Teurlings Catholic grad has increased his batting average from .245 as a freshman to .295 last season to .310 this year.