Baseball: Robichaux reels in the honors

Tim Buckley, Daily Advertiser, April 16, 2013

Sun Belt Conference Pitcher of the Week. Louisiana Sports Writers Association Pitcher of the Week. One of five Louisville Slugger national Players of the Week.

 

The honors kept pouring in for Austin Robichaux on Monday, about as rapidly as he collected strikeouts last Friday night at Arkansas-Little Rock.

It was the first Friday night start for Robichaux, who fanned a career-high 14 in a 9-2 Sun Belt Conference win at UALR.

The sophomore went the distance, doing so for a second straight outing. His 14 Ks in the two-hitter marked the most strikeouts by a Cajun pitcher since Buddy Glass fanned 14 in May of 2006 against Nicholls State – UL’s opponent tonight.

“At the start of the year, we kind of wanted to start it out that away (with Robichaux throwing on Friday nights),” UL coach Tony Robichaux said with reference to his youngest son, who also threw a complete game in a win the prior Saturday vs. Troy. “But we just felt he wasn’t ready yet in his development.

“As the season wore on, especially when we hit Southern Miss (in early March), that’s kind of where he started to come around the corner and be able to locate and be able to throw all of his offspeed pitches with the arm speed as his fastball.

“Once we saw that, and we saw the ERA continue to go down … and start to pack up some quality starts behind him,” Tony Robichaux added, “we went ahead and flip-flopped.”

Prior Friday night starter Ryan Wilson slid to Saturday, and Austin Robichaux – now 5-2 with a 2.45 ERA – was matched up against UALR ace Chance Cleveland.

Robichaux has held opponents to five hits or fewer six times in his nine starts this season.

“We felt that to beat Cleveland, because of his ERA, it was going to take somebody that was going to have to go in there and keep a low ERA down,” Tony Robichaux said. “And he (Austin) went out and really just threw the game of his life for us.”

Robichaux didn’t yield an earned run, and at one stage – after the Trojans had trimmed the Cajun lead to 2-1 with an unearned run in the second inning – he retired 16 consecutive UALR batters.

The lanky righty retired Arkansas-Little Rock’s leadoff batter in each of the game’s first seven innings. He sat down the side in order six times, and fanned at least one in eight of nine innings – including five frames with multiple strikeouts.

UL hitters, meanwhile, produced seven straight runs to give the Cajuns a leg up in a three-game weekend series that they took 2-1.

“It took a lot of pressure off of our hitters,” Tony Robichaux, speaking at his weekly media gathering Monday, said of Austin Robichaux’s performance. “He took pressure off the bullpen. He did a lot of what you want on Friday night.

“Do you normally get a complete game? That’s not always the easiest thing to do, but he was able to do that and keep them out of our bullpen.”

Before returning to Sun Belt play with a three-game weekend home series against Florida Atlantic, UL plays a non-conference game tonight at Nicholls State of the Southland Conference.

Kody Smith is scheduled to make his second start of the season.

On Wednesday night, the Cajuns will try to finish a game that started last Wednesday at Southland-member Northwestern State. UL was leading 3-0 in the top of the fourth inning when that game was suspended due to rain.

In-conference or out, Tony Robichaux – who got a 10-hit, nine-run ninth inning in a 15-10 come-from-behind win at UALR on Sunday – just hopes his 24-11 club can continue to synch strong pitching with solid hitting.

“When we can match our pitching up with our hitting,” he said, “we can be very good.”

LAGNIAPPE: Wilson threw seven innings and outfielder Dex Kjerstad sent a two-run, bases-loaded single to left to score Wilson and Jace Conrad and break a 1-1 tie in the eighth when UL beat Nicholls State on Feb. 27. … UL first baseman Chase Compton snapped out of a 4-for-39 slump by going 6-of-10 in the UALR series. … Ryan Leonards is riding a team-high 12-game hitting streak for the Cajuns, two shy of Tyler Girouard’s 14-game streak. … Kjerstad’s school record-tying five hits vs. UALR on Sunday are the most for a Cajun since Kolin Hatfield collected five in a March 2007 game at Florida International.

Athletic Network Footnote: Please click here for Baseball Alumni Weekend April 19-21, 2013.