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."