Coming off a week in Alabama, UL baseball fans won't soon forget that the Ragin' Cajuns are hoping they have enough top-notch play left in them for this weekend's Starkville Regional in Mississippi.
"A lot of guys can be tough when things are good," UL coach Matt Deggs said. "These guys haven't had a whole lot of stuff go great. If you notice, everything we do is the hard way. And I respect them for that."
The No. 3-seeded Cajuns take on No. 2 Cincinnati at 6 p.m. Friday at Dudy Noble Field shortly after top-seeded Mississippi State takes on Lipscomb at 1 p.m. Friday.
"Very dynamic ball club," Deggs said of Cincinnati (37-20, 17-13). "They remind me of Coastal (Carolina) a little bit. They have a tremendous short game to go along with a lot of power.
"They can bunt, they can run ... and have a pitching staff that doesn't walk anybody and a true ace. They're a formidable opponent to say the least."
The Cajuns' recent path to the regional had a lot more turns than the other three teams.
UL's pitching staff threw 1,075 pitches during the 5-2 showing at the Sun Belt Tournament. Meanwhile, Cincinnati threw 153 on its loss to Arizona State in the Big 12 Tournament.
The host Bulldogs threw 229 pitches in two games in Hoover, Alabama, while Lipscomb's pitching hurled 536 pitches last week in three Atlantic Sun tournament games.
"In鈥�31 years doing this, this might be the toughest one when you look at physically tough, mentally tough, spiritually," Deggs said. "Toughness for us is just your attitude, and how you approach intensity when things aren't going your way."
With that said, Deggs admits there's reason to question how the extra burden of that week in Alabama could negatively impact his staff's sharpness.
"It's a real thing," Deggs said. "You see so many teams that literally have to go into every reserve tank just to get to a certain point. You think you'll rebound and get your second wind and I hope we do, but that's not always the case."
UL third baseman Drew Markle is convinced the Cajuns are ready for the challenge.
"We thrive in that," Markle said. "We've been doing this since the fall 鈥� getting up at 5 a.m., doing those kinds of things in the 抖阴h weather. It's always so humid. That prepared us physically and mentally.
"Now we're just playing a game. These guys love to play for each other."
UL's wearied pitching staff will be facing an explosive Bearcats' offense that's batting .300 on the season with 84 homers and 115 stolen bases.
The Cajuns are expected to start junior right-hander Cody Brasch in Friday's first game against 6-foot-5 junior right-hander Nathan Taylor, who is 6-3 with a 3.86 ERA. In 84 innings, he's allowed 78 hits and struck out 112.
"He's a true ace," Deggs said of Taylor. "He's a big kid, about 6-5, and has a really good slider and he doesn't walk many."
Senior lefty Andrew Herrmann will likely pitch Saturday, despite throwing 200 pitches last week.
"It's actually doing better than you'd think," Herrmann said of his left arm. "It's not too bad. I kind of worked the last few weeks to try and get at the end of this shape to be able to throw any given day. Once again, I would do anything for these guys."
Moreover, Herrmann is convinced the motivation of reaching the super regionals will outweigh any lingering fatigue.
"I think we'll succeed very well," he said. "I'm excited for it. Getting to play with my brothers again is awesome. I'd die for this group. This is a group that's really close to one another, so I'm excited to spend at least another week with them.
聽"The job's not finished yet. Let's go in this regional and advance to the Supers."
Offensively, the Cajuns will need to continue their recent hot streak at the plate.
During the Sun Belt Tournament, UL hit .298 with 57 runs, 13 doubles, nine homers, five steals, a .410 on-base and a .463 slugging percentage.
The opposition's ERA was 7.46. Maddox Mandino led the way at .440, followed by Donovan LaSalle at .346 and Mark Collins at .333.
"We're not trying to go out there and be thinking, 'I need to do this to keep my average' or 'I need to do this to make it these home runs,' or whatever. I think we're just going out there trying to win. I think it's really just making us excel."