LAFAYETTE, La. – Coming off of a six-game road swing, the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns baseball team will open a five-game homestand on Friday at 6 p.m. in the first of three games against UT Arlington at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field at Russo Park.
 
Saturday’s contest marks the first time this spring that the Ragin’ Cajuns will play game two of the series at night with a 6 p.m. first pitch. The series finale is set for a 1 p.m. start on Sunday.
 
The game on Saturday will be the annual Military/ First Responder Appreciation Game as all military veterans and first responders will receive a half-price ticket to the game with proper identification and will be invited to join the team on the field for the national anthem.
  
The Series
 
The Ragin’ Cajuns hold a 29-18 lead in the all-time series against UT Arlington despite being swept on the road a year ago. Louisiana is 12-5 against the Mavericks with head coach Tony Robichaux at the helm including a 5-0 mark at home.
 
Scouting Louisiana
 
Louisiana (13-16, 3-6 SBC) is coming off of a series split with No. 12 Southern Miss falling in a heartbreaker 9-8 on Tuesday before picking up a 7-4 win a day ago. The Ragin’ Cajuns are still looking for their first series win of the year after dropping two of three at Arkansas State last week.
 
Offensively, freshman Hayden Cantrelle is riding a team-best 13-game hit streak with a .375 average (18-for-48) including four doubles, a triple and nine RBI during the streak. Senior Kennon Fontenot is on a nine-game hit streak, while junior Daniel Lahare has an eight-game hit streak.
 
Juniors Hunter Kasuls and Gavin Bourgeois continue to pace the squad at the plate as Kasuls has a team-best 22 RBI on six doubles, two triples and two home runs and Bourgeois has a .301 average with nine doubles and 12 RBI.
 
Senior left-hander Colten Schmidt is the reigning Sun Belt Conference Pitcher of the Week after tossing a complete game victory at Arkansas State last Saturday. Schmidt is tied with sophomore right-hander Jack Burk for the team lead in quality starts with four on the season.
 
Scouting UT Arlington
 
UT Arlington (14-13, 6-3 SBC) has won three of its last five contests splitting a pair of midweek games with a 12-8 win at Abilene Christian on Tuesday before falling 7-4 on the road to Stephen F. Austin yesterday. The Mavs won two of three against ULM at home last week claiming the first two games of the series 5-2 and 5-0 before being shut out in the series finale 2-0.
 
Omar Salinas leads the club hitting .326 with four doubles, a home run and 11 RBI. Noah Vaughn has a team-best 20 RBI coming on three doubles, five triples and seven home runs.
 
The Mavericks are tied with Little Rock for the West Division lead and rank fourth in the league in fielding (.974) seventh in average (.260) and ninth in pitching (5.21 ERA).
 
Up Next
 
Louisiana will host a pair of midweek games next week starting with McNeese on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at Russo Park. The Cajuns wrap up the five-game homestand against Southeastern Louisiana on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.