Baseball: Adams catch finishes off Cajuns� victory

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, June 8, 2014

With two outs in the top of the seventh inning of an eventual 9-5 Game 1 Super Regional win over Ole Miss on Saturday night, UL left fielder Caleb Adams made a super catch.

Adams robbed the Rebels’ Sikes Orvis of a likely two-run homer by leaping high and pulling the ball in with his glove at the top of the wall.

“I just ran over there and jumped up and tried to make a play on it,” said Adams, a junior drafted by the Los Angeles earlier Saturday.

It was the sort of special defensive play the Ragin’ Cajuns have become accustomed to this postseason.

“Anytime someone makes a good play in the field, like (Cajuns third baseman) Ryan (Leonards) did (multiple times) last week in the Regional,” Adams said, “it really pumps you up and gives you confidence, especially late in the game like that.

“We’ve had a lot of big defensive games all year,” he added, “so I think it really helped us.”

DRAFT COMPARISIONS

A combined 16 players from UL and Ole Miss were selected in the three-day Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.

The Cajuns had seven and the Rebels nine.

That includes both of Friday’s starting pitchers, UL’s Austin Robichaux and Ole Miss’ Chris Ellis, who went in the 18th and third rounds, respectively – both to the same team, the Los Angeles Angels.

Also drafted from UL: centerfielder Seth Harrison (San Francisco Giants, seventh round); Adams (Angels, 10th); second baseman Jace Conrad (Tampa Bay Rays, 13th); third baseman Ryan Leonards (Chicago White Sox, 21st); starting pitcher Carson Baranik (Los Angeles Dodgers, 33rd) and relief pitcher Matt Plitt (Rays, 37th).

Also drafted from Ole Miss: centerfielder Auston Bousfield (San Diego Padres, fifth); third baseman Austin Anderson (Baltimore Orioles, ninth); relief pitcher Joshua Laxer (Detroit Tigers, ninth); left fielder Braxton Lee (Rays, 12th); catcher Will Allen (Tigers, 13th); reliever Hawtin Buchanan (Seattle Mariners, 20th); reliever Aaron Greenwood (Houston Astros, 28th) and starting pitcher Christian Trent (Dodgers, 29th).

NO COMPARISON

UL starting pitcher Cody Boutte played for LSU Eunice in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II World Series, throwing two games in the series for the 2012 national-champion Bengals and winning both).

He also pitched in last weekend’s NCAA Regional, getting a win over Mississippi State.

As far as Boutte is concerned, there’s no comparison between the two.

“When it all happened (in junior college), I thought was probably the biggest experience I would get ever,” he said. “Then I pitched at LSU (vs. the Tigers for UL in the 2013 Baton Rouge Regional), and LSU was pretty crazy.

“Then we got out here for Mississippi State for Game 1 (last Sunday night), and this place (The Tigue) was electric. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

BARANIK VS. TRENT

UL coach Tony Robichaux said Baranik will start for the Cajuns tonight. Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco said Trent will go for the Rebels.

The matchup pits two former LSU signees against each other.

Baranik (11-1) pitched one season for the Tigers before transferring to Miami Dade College for last season, then transferred to UL.

LAGNIAPPE

Plitt, who closed for the Cajuns, now has thrown 17 straight scoreless innings. … UL (58-8) is now two wins away from Florida State’s 2002 record for most victories in a year with a 56-game regular season. … Radio station KPEL 1420 handed out 2,500 fake fury bears and 1,500 paper ones as a promotion acknowledging the beards that Cajun players have been wearing all season. … Among those in the press box at The Tigue: veteran broadcaster Tim Brando, who soon will be calling basketball games for the SEC Network, and Sun Belt Conference commissioner Karl Benson.