As the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns prepare for the final two weeks of the season, there are still some question marks. While Friday nights have been the real bugaboo for the program all season long, a lot of that has to do with the lack of depth at the bullpen. The target that head coach Tony Robichaux focused in on was the Sunday starter and how that’s the last piece of the proverbial puzzle.
“Our guys did a good job this weekend being able getting two out of three.” Robichaux said on Monday following their series against the Chanticleers of Coastal Carolina, “We just need to solve that last one, we’ve got to get some people to step up out of the bullpen and help us.”
When you look at the Cajuns’ weekend rotation from the last couple of weeks, you’ve seen Jack Burk and Brandon Young in some sort of order, but that third starter has always been questionable because of the injury to Gunner Leger taking away one of their solid aces from that rotation. Add the fact that there isn’t much depth to the bullpen, it’s creating issues for the team when it comes to setting certain players into a role. One such player is Austin Perrin.
“I like Perrin where he’s at.” Robichaux said of the sophomore, “He reminds me a lot of Andy Gros when he pitched. When people had to swing their way back into the game, they had to swing at a changeup and that’s hard to do.”
It’s a lot of high praise for one of the younger pitchers that hadn’t found a steady role in this team for a litany of reasons. Just last season, he started in eight of his 20 appearances in large part because of Leger’s surgery putting him out of action for over a year. Not only is Perrin affected, as Jacob Schultz could have been the middle relief guy if not for that lack of depth in the pen.
That being said, Robichaux isn’t entirely out of options if Gunner can be ready for the next two weekends against Georgia State and UL Monroe. When asked if he would put Leger in as an opener, the Cajuns head coach he would consider it but he said “right now, it’s weekend to weekend and last week he was scratched. It’s going to be limited, so do you let him go out and let him get you off to a good start or do you close him? That’s what you’re dealing with, but I would do that definitely.”
Every decision that this coaching staff makes in the next two weeks has no margin for error considering that they could be spending the Sun Belt Conference Tournament watching it from the clubhouse if they can’t close out strong against Georgia State and more importantly UL Monroe.
-Clint Domingue