Better Know a Regional: UL Lafayette

UL-Lafayette already eliminated our softball team, and they would love nothing more than to add the LSU baseball team to their list of victim. I'm sure that won't affect the rather large chip ULL fans have on their shoulders, either.

UL-Lafayette

Record: 41-18 (19-11), 3^rd in the Sun Belt
RS/RA: 453/301
RPI: 22
ISR: 25
Odds of winning regional*: 4.3%

*According to boydsworld.com ISR projections

ULL boasts one of the best offenses in the country. They also lost to LSU in a midweek game 11-2. Draw your own conclusions. Boyd Nation projects LSU 94.2% chance of winning this regional and a 86.0% chance of making it to Omaha. Yes, EIGHTY SIX PERCENT. Dear Tigers, don't screw this up.

What Pretentious Indie Band They Resemble: Japandroids.

Japandroids are a pretty great band, but subtle they ain't. They play loud, they play fast, and the pretty much just assault your senses and try and wear you down. Sure, they are a boatload of fun, but they are also downright exhausting. ULL is kind of like that. They will try and batter you and score a boatload of runs and hope you are too shell-shocked to keep pace. They have one of the most prolific offenses in the country, and they need to outscore you to beat you.

Pitching:

RHP Austin Robichaux 8-2, 3.20 ERA, 101.1 IP, 80/21 K/BB
LHP Ryan Wilson 6-4, 3.35 ERA, 78 IP, 59/24 K/BB
LHP Cody Boutte 8-3, 5.27 ERA, 85.1 IP, 58/26 K/BB

No one here really scares you outside of Robichaux, and it's possible LSU avoids him entirely. This is a team with a staff ERA of 4.46. They didn't get here by winning pitching duels. The starter is almost irrelevant. ULL needs their offense to show up to win the regional.

Hitting:

OF Dex Kjerstad 398/441/631
3B Tyler Girouard 372/473/616
OF Caleb Adams 341/432/642

You can throw out "it's just the Sun Belt" as much as you want, those are some seriously impressive numbers. And, for the record, the Sun Belt sent four teams to the tournament. The Cajuns boast eight regulars who hit 300, six who slug 500, and eight with an OBP of 400. The lineup is good, deep, and effective. The Cajuns hit 323/402/513 as a team. You want to know why we want to save Aaron Nola, this is pretty much the reason. LSU will need a great pitching performance to beat ULL.

How Can They Win?

By slugging the crap out of the ball. LSU's been going with the defense-first alignment and ULL is the rare team that can boast a lineup that matches up with LSU. ULL needs a few games in double digits, but they can win by simply getting their lineup to produce.

How Will They Lose?

Because the pitching kind of stinks. LSU beat this team 11-2, which does at least question whether their hitting numbers are a bit of mirage. ULL needs a pitcher other than Robichaux to show up, and I don't think that is very likely. They could give LSU a scare, and maybe even give LSU a loss, but it's a tall order for this team to beat LSU twice as well as, most likely, winning two other games.