For the first time in three seasons, Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns are in the NCAA baseball regionals and they'll try to make the most of that experience beginning Friday night when they take on third seeded Sam Houston State (37-20) in their first round game at Skip Bertman Field/Alex Box Stadium.

The Cajuns (41-18) were last in the tournament back in 2010, upsetting #2 seed Rice in their first game before falling to #1 seed Texas and Rice on consecutive days.

Ryan WIlson (6-4) will get the start for the Cajuns in the 7pm game.  Airtime for the radio broadcast on 96.5 KPEL-FM will be 6:30.

If the Cajuns are to advance in the winners' bracket, they'll have to find a way to solve the left handed slants of Cody Dickson.  The Mansfield, Texas native is 9-5 on the season, with a 4.33 ERA.  The 6-3 Dickson had a string of 26 consecutive scoreless innings at the end of the regular season, then had one bad inning in the second round of the Southland Conference tournament, falling to Southeastern Louisiana 5-2.

Dickson has a fastball that reaches the low 90's.  He is expected to go in the top ten rounds of the MLB draft next week.

Chances are, however, Dickson hasn't faced a lineup like the Cajuns' who lead the nation in home runs and slugging percentage.  Eight of the nine regulars are hitting over .300 on the season.

Wilson, meanwhile, was very good in his start against South Alabama in the Sun Belt tournament in a 12-2 Cajuns win.

The winner goes on to face the winner of LSU-Jackson State Saturday at 7pm.  The loser plays the loser of that game at 2pm.

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