While his record doesn’t show it, Jack Burk has developed extremely well.
With the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns having several pitchers becoming draft eligible, the younger pitchers need to have a chance to develop. Burk has been taking advantage of these opportunities as of late. While they both resulted in losses, the freshman from Jesuit allowed only three earned runs and struck out eight in 12 innings pitched against Louisiana Tech and Houston.
With the game in Ruston against the Bulldogs, that game wasn’t on him because he had been out of the game for some time as that game went deep into extra innings. The same could be said for last week’s loss against the Cougars as two of their four runs were unearned due to fielding errors.
That being said, the freshman has a 0-2 record in his five appearances and will try to get on the winning side of the ledger on Tuesday night against McNeese State. During Monday’s press conference, Coach Tony Robichaux said what his expectations for Jack Burk are.
“I look for Jack to do what our pitching staff is entitled to do. They’re not entitled for wins or records. We don’t care about all that. What we care about realistically is that guy gives us a chance to win.”
With Burk’s relative inexperience, it harkens back to a time when the Cajuns trotted out Andy Gros as a freshman back in 2000 against LSU. He was an inexperienced freshman and took his lumps. Fast forward to when it meant the most against South Carolina in a Super Regional game, he was able to step up and get the Cajuns to the College World Series. That’s what it seems like Robichaux wants to do with him on Tuesday night against McNeese State, who hasn’t lost a game at home since May of 2016.
“McNeese is really hot right now. They swing the bat well, they can score some runs, and there’s going to be a big crowd all that’s good for Jack. It’s good to weather him. The more you get weathered, the better off you’ll be at the end run when it’s time to be good.”
With the rest of the midweek schedule littered with potential landmines including the Tigers at the Wally Pontiff Classic, the time is now for Burk to develop so that the pitching staff isn’t taking a major hit next season with Gunner Leger, Dylan Moore, and Wyatt Marks possibly leaving to go to the big leagues.
-Clint Domingue