The UL Lafayette baseball season came to an end last night after the Ragin’ Cajuns fell to Mississippi State 19-5. The depleted Louisiana bullpen couldn’t keep up with the Bulldog batters who knocked 20 hits and nine runs in the final three innings. Cajuns head coach Matt Deggs didn’t make excuses after playing 11 games in 13 days.
“I don’t think we’re tired,” said Deggs. “I don’t think any of that. I think we were thin on pitching, and it is what it is. Find me a team that’s not right now, besides those guys. Mississippi State got some great starts. They have everything it takes to win the whole thing, and we’re just not there yet.”
The Cajuns made a frantic push to earn a regional bid, winning their final four Sun Belt series and finishing second in the conference tournament. They relied on a deep and talented freshman class, who Deggs said have only gotten better as the season’s gone on.
“We knew we were talented going in,” he said. “Start off good, get knocked on our butts, and it’s because of inexperience. Then, when that experience started to catch up and match that talent a little bit, you saw what these kids are capable of, and that’s the reason you saw us finish the way that we did. In my opinion, we’re just getting started. I hate that we ran out of season.”
UL-Lafayette ends the year with a 41- 25 record after a disappointing 27-win 2025 campaign. It is the third 40-win season and fourth regional appearance for the Cajuns under Deggs, and he said they can be back and even better next season.
He said, “I truly feel like this team will be knocking on the door of Omaha. We’ll push to get there. I know I’m overconfident at times, I just am, that’s just me, but I don’t think starting next fall and making a goal to host is out of the realm of possibilities, I just don’t with this group.”
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