Louisiana's Ragin' Cajun baseball team opens up NCAA regional play on Friday afternoon, taking on the Rice Owls in the opening game of the Houston, Texas Regional at Cougar Field on the campus of the University of Houston.

First-pitch is scheduled for 2:30 pm, and you can hear all the play-by-play action on News Talk 96.5 KPEL-FM, and on-line at kpel965.com, beginning with the pregame show at 2 o'clock.

The other two teams in the regional, top-seeded Houston, and 4th-seeded Houston Baptist, will play the final game tonight at 7 pm.

The two losers will meet in an elimination game on Saturday at 2:30, while the two winners will square off in a winners bracket game at 7 o'clock on Saturday night.

Louisiana, the third-seed in the regional, who qualified for postseason play for the third-consecutive season by winning the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, is currently 39-21 on the season, including an 18-11 record in league play.

Rice, the second-seed, will enter the match-up with an overall record of 35-20, including a 22-8 record in Conference-USA play.

Offensively, the Cajuns are hitting a .276, along with 56 home runs, 322 runs batted in, and 78 stolen bases in 113 attempts, while out-scoring the opposition, 365-239.

Pitching-wise, Louisiana sports an overall, combined, team ERA. of 3.36, compared to a 5.35 for the opposition, while holding foes to a .244 batting average against.

The Owls are hitting a .300 as a team, to go along with 16 homers, 294 RBI’s, and 27 stolen bases in 42 attempts.

On the hill, Rice sports a team ERA. of a 3.22, holding opponents to a .243 batting average against.

Freshman right-hander Wyatt Marks, who is 6-1 with a 3.25 ERA., will get the start on the mound for Louisiana, while Rice will counter with junior left-hander Blake Fox, who is 8-2 with a 3.34 ERA.

The winner of the Houston, Texas Regional will face the winner of the Baton Rouge Regional, hosted by LSU, in an NCAA Super Regional next weekend.

The complete Houston, Texas Regional schedule is below:

NCAA Regional Schedule
Houston, Texas
Cougar Field

All times Central and subject to change

Friday, May 29
Game 1 – 2:30 p.m. – #3 seed Louisiana vs. #2 seed Rice
Game 2 – 7 p.m. – #1 seed Houston vs. #4 seed Houston Baptist

Saturday, May 30
Game 3 – 2:30 p.m. – Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser
Game 4 – 7 p.m. – Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner

Sunday, May 31
Game 5 – 2:30 p.m. – Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Loser
Game 6 – 7 p.m. – Game 4 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner

Monday, June 1
Game 7 – 7 p.m. – Game 6 Winner vs. Game 6 Loser

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