Baseball: Geith shines during Moore Field debut

Joshua Parrott • jparrott@theadvertiser.com • March 1, 2010

The fact that UL left-hander T.J. Geith made his first start at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field on Sunday against Miami University was exciting enough for the transfer from Scottsdale Community College.

Add in that Geith got to throw in front of his parents, who traveled from Arizona, made the day even more special. The lanky junior struck out seven and allowed only two hits and one earned run in seven innings, but three unearned runs left him with a no-decision as the Cajuns rallied for a 5-4 win.

Geith won his NCAA Division I debut on Feb. 21 in UL’s 10-1 win over Nicholls State in Thibodaux, giving up one earned run and striking out six in five innings.

On Sunday, Geith had a no-hitter for 6.2 innings before the RedHawks generated any offense against him.

"It was a lot of fun, and I’d been looking forward to it," Geith said of his first start at Moore Field. "I was really excited to pitch at home because last week I threw at Nicholls and it was raining. The weather was great (Sunday), and a lot of fans were out here."

Geith pitched the previous two seasons at Scottsdale Community College. As a sophomore, he went 10-2 with a 2.69 ERA and earned first team all-conference honors as the Fighting Artichokes finished second at the NJCAA Division II World Series.

A 6-foot-5, 195-pound lefty, Geith seriously considered Kansas State before signing with the Cajuns. At UL, he has been reunited with former junior college teammate Taylor Hubbell.

Odds and Ends

UL now leads the all-time series with Miami, 3-2. All five games have been played at Moore Field "» Geith is the most recent Cajun to come close to throwing a no-hitter. UL has had four no-hitters in program history. The most recent was Jerry Bourgeois, who struck out six in nine innings in a 10-1 win over Southern on Feb. 14, 1988.