Baseball: Cajuns, Rebels are loaded with common opponents

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, June 6, 2014

With a chance to go to the College World Series on the line, UL is playing an opponent in this weekend’s NCAA Super Regional – Ole Miss – that it has not seen all season.

In fact, the Sun Belt Conference’s Ragin’ Cajuns and SEC’s Rebels have met only three times – with UL winning twice.

The recent unfamiliarity certainly doesn’t make things easy for people like Cajuns coach Tony Robichaux and his staff of assistants.

"So you try to gain as much information (as possible)," Robichaux said.

Having plenty of common opponents this season might help.

Ole Miss went 2-2 during the regular season against Mississippi State, with which UL also just split (1-1) in last weekend’s NCAA Lafayette Regional win that got the Cajuns to this weekend’s Super Regional at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field.

Among common SEC regular-season opponents, UL got its first lick against SEC pitching by beating LSU in a single game and going 2-1 against Alabama. The Rebels were 1-2 vs. LSU, 0-3 vs. Alabama.

Against other Sun Belt teams in the regular season, Ole Miss went 2-0 vs. Arkansas State, 2-1 against Georgia State, 2-0 against UL Monroe and 2-0 vs. Arkansas-Little Rock for a combined 8-1. UL went a combined 11-1 against those four SBC opponents, with the loss being at Arkansas State.

Against common non-conference opponents in the regular season, Ole Miss and UL both were 2-0 vs. SLU – but Ole Miss was 0-2 vs. USM while UL swept Southern Miss 3-0.

In total, Ole Miss was 13-10 vs. common opponents. UL was 20-3.

Based on all that, plus watching video of some Ole Miss games that were televised this season, Robichaux said, "You can get a lot of information."

Sorting through it all, however, is another matter.

"The quality of your information," the Cajun coach said, "is important – you know, who is it coming from, how did they pitch them that night, who pitched them good, who did they have success against and maybe why."

Then there’s the kicker, Robichaux suggested early in the week.

"They’re trying to do the same thing on us," he said.

As a result, all those common opponents may not matter as much as one as one might suspect.

Some of the info could help UL’s coaches for game-planning purposes. But the real key, Robichaux believes, is for the Cajuns to concentrate mostly on themselves.

"You just try," he said, "to get as prepared as you can … but we really focus on us."