Louisiana Faces Georgia St. In Sun Belt Softball Tournament – Inside The Numbers
Louisiana's Ragin' Cajun softball begins postseason play on Thursday afternoon, squaring off with the Georgia St. Panthers in the semifinals of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament in San Marcos, Texas.
First-pitch is scheduled for 2 o’clock, and you can hear all three games on ESPN 1420 & espn1420.com beginning with the pre-game show at 1:45 pm.
This will be the first game of the second day of the tournament, which now shifts to a double-elimination format, after four single-elimination games were played on the first day.
Louisiana swept a three-game series from Georgia St. this season, winning by scores of 10-1, 10-2, and 8-0, all in mercy-rule fashion, at Lamson Park.
The Cajuns, the regular season conference champions, and the top-seed in the event, are currently 37-8, overall, and 20-10 in Sun Belt Conference play, after sweeping a three-game conference series from ULM last weekend last weekend.
Offensively, Louisiana is hitting a .355, along with 97 home runs, 347 runs batted in, and 58 stolen bases in 68 attempts, while out-scoring foes, 385-107.
The 97 homers they've belted as a team this season are just 5 five of the school record, which was set back in 2006.
Pitching-wise, the Cajuns sport an overall, combined, team ERA. of 2.20, compared to a 8.84 for the opposition, while holding foes to a .184 batting average against.
Georgia St., the fifth-seed in the tournament, will enter the match-up with an overall record of 37-20, following two opening day wins on Wednesday, 8-0 over Georgia Southern, and 9-3 over Troy.
The Panthers are hitting a .342 as a team, along with a conference-high 100 home runs, 375 runs driven in, and 52 stolen bases in 56 attempts, while out-scoring opponents, 408-309.
In the circle, Georgia St. currently has an overall, combined, team ERA. of 5.26, while holding opponents to a .282 batting average against.
The winner will play on Friday at 2 o'clock against the South Alabama/Texas St. winner, while the losers will play an elimination game on Friday morning at 11 o'clock.