NEW ORLEANS – The reigning Sun Belt baseball tournament champions, the South Alabama Jaguars, and the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns are the East and West division favorites in the Sun Belt Conference baseball preseason coaches’ poll heading into the 2018 season.
The Jaguars finished the 2017 campaign with a 40-21 record, including a 22-8 Sun Belt mark. USA swept through the tournament and earned the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The Jaguars return eight starters from last season’s squad and have been ranked by several rating services during the preseason.
USA led the Sun Belt in hitting with a .304 team average and also led the league in runs scored with 488. The Jaguars had 644 hits on the season, 78 of which were round-trippers. USA garnered all 12 first-place votes in the East for a total of 72 points.
Coastal Carolina, the East division champs from 2017, were picked to finish second behind the Jaguars as the Chanticleers totaled 59 points. Georgia Southern, the runner-up in the Sun Belt tournament final, was picked to finish third in the East with 43 points.
Louisiana finished second in the West a season ago with a 19-10-1 mark in league play and a 35-21-1 overall record. The Ragin’ Cajuns led the Sun Belt with a 3.33 earned run average and a league-high 20 saves. Louisiana was second in the league in fielding with 49 errors in 57 games.
The Ragin’ Cajuns tallied 68 points in the poll with nine first-place votes.
UTA won the West a season ago and was picked to finish second in the West in 2018, tallying 56 points and two first-place votes. Texas State earned the final first-place vote in the West as the Bobcats garnered 51 points, which has them finishing third.
The 2018 baseball season begins on Friday, February 18. The 2018 Sun Belt Conference Baseball Championship is set for May 22-27 at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field at Russo Park on the campus of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
2018 Sun Belt Conference Baseball Coaches’ Preseason Poll
first-place votes in parentheses
EAST DIVISION
1. South Alabama (12) – 72 pts
2. Coastal Carolina – 59 pts
3. Georgia Southern – 43 pts
4. Troy – 41 pts
5. Georgia State – 20 pts
6. Appalachian State – 16 pts
WEST DIVISION
1. Louisiana (9) – 68 pts
2. UTA (2) – 56 pts
3. Texas State (1) – 51 pts
4. Arkansas State – 36 pts
5. Little Rock – 27 pts
6. ULM – 11 pts
7 comments
Is that Louisiana Monroe or Louisiana Lafayette? No school named Louisiana exists
Louisiana is the correct name of Louisiana-Lafayette.
Timeline[edit]
1898 – State legislation passed allowing for creation of Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute (SLII).[5]
1899 – Board of Trustees Establish and donation of 25 acres of land by Girard family.
1900 – Construction began and Dr. Edwin Stephens named President.
1901 – SLII opened September 18 with 100 students and eight faculty members.
1903 – 18 students were the first to graduate from SLII in two separate ceremonies.[6]
1920 – Began a four-year course culminating with a bachelor of arts degree.
1921 – SLII was changed into the Southwestern Louisiana Institute of Liberal and Technical Learning (SLI).[7]
1960 – SLI became the University of Southwestern Louisiana (USL).
1974 — The College of Sciences was officially formed.
1984 – Following approval from the Board of Trustees for State Colleges and Universities (now UL System), USL officially changed its name to the University of Louisiana, which was overturned less than a month later by an act of the state legislature, although two schools had previously changed their names using the same technique without outside interference.[8][9][10]
1997 – University’s privately held assets reach $75 million.[11]
1999 – USL was renamed the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette).[12][13]
The athletics program has stated to refer to them as Louisiana Ragin Cajuns…Here is the start of the press release on their site today:
LAFAYETTE, La. – The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns Athletics has announced to a two-year partnership with Cox Sports Television (CST) to televise Ragin’ Cajuns home events. In conjunction with Jumbo Sports Television, CST will broadcast 15 Louisiana home contests during the 2017-18 athletic season.
And the Sun Belt also uses that as part of the Reference Guide as seen below
http://www.sunbeltsports.org/news/2016/11/23/GENERAL_1123161152.aspx
This is nothing against you Brian. I enjoy your website. There are just some people who fail to recognize the name of the school. Most people in the state of Louisiana realize the error made by the athletic department. I will still visit your website often. Thanks
Oh, I know but this is an argument that there is no real right answer. The school wants to be called that so I really can’t do anything over it! 😉
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