The Rebels may have played their last game at Swayze on Monday, but their season continues as they prepare to take on Louisiana-Lafayette for a trip to the College World Series.
This will be the first time the Rebels take the field for a super regional game since 2009, and hopefully the journey doesn’t stop there because the Rebels want the season to end in Omaha. They faced a tough hand playing 2 seed Washington in the Oxford regional.
The pitching for Huskies, from their starters to their bullpen, gave the rebels fits, but the clutch hitters for the Rebels found a way to break through in the end. For the most part, pitching is what got the Rebels to the super regionals. They’ll need to continue their stellar pitching, but they’ll also need to score more runs to keep up with the high-powered offense of Louisiana-Lafayette.
Colby Bortles hits a home run during the Regional Championship Game on Monday. (Ignacio Murillo)
The Ragin’ Cajuns easily boast the best offense in the country. They are second in the country in batting average, first in the country in total hits (Ole Miss is second), second in total home runs, first in runs scored and first in slugging percentage. If the pitching staff struggles for the Rebels, they’ll need to keep up with the Ragin’ Cajun offense if they want to have a shot, which they certainly can.
Louisiana-Lafayette enters the super regional with a 57-8 overall record, the best record in the country by far. Louisiana-Lafayette also went 5-1 during the season against the SEC West.
The Ragin’ Cajuns, one of the eight national seeds, had to play five games to host a super regional series. They lost their first game to Jackson State 1-0, but came back strong and won their next four against San Diego State, Jackson State again and Mississippi State twice. In those five regional games, the Ragin’ Cajuns scored 39 runs.
Louisiana-Lafayette plays in the Sun Belt conference and most of their games were played in their conference, but make no mistake, this team is one of the best in the country and the Rebels have a tough task at hand if they want a trip to Omaha.
The weekend series will be the best two out of three games. The first game will be 7 p.m. Saturday. The second game will begin 7 p.m. Sunday. The potential third game is set for 6 p.m. Monday. All three games will be televised on ESPN2.
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