Baseball: Robichaux credits Ole Miss comeback – Hammering Pitches – The UL Bullpen – Crowds Matter

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, June 10, 2014

Having gone to the College World Series with his Ragin’ Cajuns in 2000, UL baseball coach Tony Robichaux had a grasp for both sides of the emotion coin Monday.

He expressed as much as his Cajuns lost 10-4 to Ole Miss in Monday night’s Game 3 of the Lafayette Super Regional, sending the Rebels – who lost the first game of the best-of-three series 9-5 – to the College World Series for the first time since 1972.

"I want to give credit to Ole Miss and (coach) Mike (Bianco) for coming in and being able to be down one, and coming back and winning two straight," Robichaux said. "You’ve got to give credit to them.

"There’s no better feeling when you get that last out to get to Omaha. So I know how they feel. Then, on the other side of it, there’s gonna be a team that’s not gonna feel real good."

Ole Miss opens CWS play Sunday night vs. Virginia in Omaha.

"This team we knew was good coming into here," Robichaux said, "and we knew we’d have to score some runs to compete against them.

"They’re so balanced up and down. He (Bianco) has his mix of lefties and righties. There’s just great balance."

HAMMERING PITCHES

UL starter Cody Boutte lasted 4.0 innings Monday.

The senior lefty from New Iberia Senior High gave up four runs on five hits, include a two-run homer by Austin Anderson and a solo homer by Sikes Orvis.

"These guys (the Rebels) – we said it before, that we’ve to locate, that we’ve got to stay down," Robichaux said. "They can hammer pitches that you leave out in the middle of the plate and up, and he got a couple pitches up, and they put some good swings on it.

"This is a good baseball team. … Tonight they never gave up the three-run (or more) inning, and we gave up two of them. That’s the two things that will do you in."

Boutte took his first loss of the season, finishing 9-1.

THE UL BULLPEN

UL pitchers – eight in all were used – issued eight walks and hit three batters, which isn’t reflective of how they pitched all season.

But Robichaux didn’t think it was because of the stage.

"We just didn’t pitch well," the Cajun coach said. "That’s the bottom line. You’ve got to be able to make pitches when it’s time to pitch.

"You know, (Ole Miss) is a good baseball team. Sometimes you can overpitch good hitters. But I agree with you: You can’t have that many walks or hit that many batters when you’re facing a good-hitting baseball team."

CROWDS MATTER

Attendance Monday was announced at a beyond-capacity 4,295. That made the three-game Super Regional’s total of 12,867.