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Showing posts with label Coach Roger Cador. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Coach Roger Cador. Show all posts
Southern University Coach Roger Cador is taking it easy and will allow assistant coach Fernando Puebla to run the team during the SWAC Tournament.
On a hot, muggy afternoon Saturday, acting head coach Fernando Puebla had the Southern University baseball team running. The position players were doing 24 sprints in the outfield at Lee-Hines Field, the pitchers six laps around the warning track. “It’s going to be hot in Shreveport too,” said Puebla, looking forward to the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament, which starts Wednesday at Fairgrounds Field. “We need to be in condition.” What was missing was the dragging of heels and the bickering of a bunch of young men having to toil in the heat of a day where one might break a sweat just standing in the shade.
Instead, players smiled and cracked jokes. Things were loose, almost relaxed — or at least as relaxed as things can be while running 24 sprints in the outfield — as the players put in the work in preparation for the postseason. A relaxed demeanor is part of the reason the Jaguars (23-20) won five of their final six regular-season games, all after Puebla took over for Roger Cador, who sat out the late part of the season for health reasons. And although Cador said he has been cleared to return to “do whatever I want to,” he said, the veteran coach knows a good thing when he sees it. Watching from the sideline, Cador has seen his team play well.
Southern University Jaguars head baseball coach Roger Cador.
When Southern pitcher Sherrard Brooks left his hotel room Sunday morning and boarded the team bus, Roger Cador wasn’t waiting. That was the first clue. Something wasn’t right. Maybe the Jaguars’ legendary coach was out recruiting somewhere in Houston — even on a Sunday morning, just hours before their series finale against Texas Southern. That seemed strange, but Brooks figured he couldn’t put it past Cador. Worse yet, maybe Cador had been disgusted by Southern’s play the day before. In losing twice Saturday, the Jaguars suffered a double-header sweep to a Southwestern Athletic Conference foe for only the second time in six years.
Brooks decided that didn’t make any sense, either. Minutes before the first pitch of any game, in the team huddle, Cador always has a story to tell. He usually saves the most stirring of them for when the chips are down. “It would’ve been a good day to hear one of those stories,” Brooks said later. “He would have had a good one for us.” It wasn’t until the team arrived at MacGregor Park that assistant coach Fernando Puebla gave players the complete picture: Cador, who has worn a pacemaker for more than 20 years, was having health problems. The 58-year-old coach returned home Sunday to visit his cardiologist after experiencing an irregular heartbeat Saturday night and again Sunday morning in Houston.
Late Tuesday night, sometime after the Southern baseball team outlasted Nicholls State and returned from Houma, longtime coach and part-time motivational speaker Roger Cador found himself transfixed on a television nature show. It detailed the life cycle of the salmon — how they start in Alaskan rivers, swim downstream into the Pacific, grow into adults, then swim upstream to lay eggs in the same Alaskan river ... only to die a few weeks later.
Somehow, in Cador’s ever-expansive mind, he saw how the story applied to his own team, which heads into the meaty part of its Southwestern Athletic Conference schedule this month. The salmon and the Jaguars. Who knew they had anything in common? Southern (8-9, 5-1 Western Division) kicks off a three-game series against second-place Texas Southern (13-14, 4-2) with a doubleheader that begins at noon today, and two days before the first pitch, the Jaguars gathered around their 26th-year coach for story time. Cador spoke of the salmon — about how they adapt from freshwater to saltwater, about how they swim against raging rapids and sometimes even leap waterfalls, just to return to the place where they mate.
After 25 seasons of coaching baseball within the Southwestern Athletic Conference, Roger Cador has learned, again and again, that road trips within the league sometimes come with unique obstacles. After all, some of the SWAC’s smaller hometowns don’t offer much in the way of fine restaurants, comfortable hotels or even video-rental stores, much less an open movie theatre. This weekend, in fact, the Southern baseball team will spent four more innings in Pine Bluff, Ark., than it has in previous years.
And Cador is actually happy about it. The up-and-down Jaguars (5-8, 3-0 Western Division) visit Arkansas-Pine Bluff (2-10, 1-5) for three games, including a doubleheader that begins at noon today. Today will mark the second time the Jaguars play a two nine-inning games in a doubleheader — a new experience this season for SWAC teams. Before, conference series began with a pair of seven-inning games on Saturdays, then finished with one nine-inning game on Sunday. The SWAC changed its format during the offseason, opting for nine-inning doubleheaders on the first day.
COMPTON, Calif. — Silenced and humbled in its season opener, the Southern baseball team responded well Saturday. The Jaguars rallied twice, and they won. On the second day of the Major League Baseball Urban Invitational, Southern scored five runs in the bottom of the eighth inning against Cal State Northridge, and reliever Brian Foster held off the Matadors in the top of the ninth for a 12-9 victory. “We played much better today,” SU coach Roger Cador said. “We needed something from the bottom of our lineup and we got it. We needed something from Doc (Foster), and we got it from him too.”
The Jaguars’ win came less than 24 hours after UCLA roughed them up 16-2 in the season opener Friday night in Los Angeles. In that game, the Bruins scored nine runs in the first inning, and SU never recovered. On Saturday, Cal State Northridge jumped on starter Jarrett Maloy for four runs in the top of the first. The Jaguars rallied and took a 7-5 lead into the top of the seventh, when Northridge scored three times off SU reliever Joshua Rochelle.
After weeks of rotten luck and disjointed practice schedules, the Southern baseball team caught a break Saturday afternoon. Rain and snow vanished, the sky cleared and the sun showed up. In the parking lot outside Lee-Hines Field, with the constant ring of aluminum bats in the distance, pitchers stretched and laughed. Right-hander/class clown Seth Monaghan made goofy faces and goofier dance moves. Teammates talked trash. Minutes later, they took off for some running exercises.
With less than a week to go before the Jaguars’ season opener at UCLA, everything seemed in place. Except for the presence of a pitching coach. For the second straight year, Southern will attempt to win the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship without a full-time pitching coach — something longtime head coach Roger Cador had hoped for this summer when he agreed to a three-year contract that will pay him at least $125,000 per season. Two months after winning his 14th conference title, Cador — who begins his 26th season behind the wheel of the baseball program — interviewed twice with the University of New Orleans (Cador agreed to a new deal with SU, his alma mater, before UNO made an offer).
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SU Jaguars 2010 Baseball Schedule
DATE OPPONENT SITE TIME
FEBRUARY 19 Friday UCLA, Los Angeles, CA (Jackie Robinson Stadium) 8:00 P.M. 20 Saturday Cal State Northridge, Los Angeles, CA (MLB Urban Youth Academy) 4:00 P.M. 21 Sunday Bethune-Cookman, Los Angeles, CA (MLB Urban Youth Academy) 4:00 P.M. 24 Tuesday University of New Orleans, Baton Rouge, LA 6:00 P.M. 27 Friday Baton Rouge CC (Exhibition) Baton Rouge, LA (Pete Goldsby Field) 1:00 P.M.
MARCH 2 Tuesday University of Loyola, New Orleans, LA 6:00 P.M. 6 Saturday +Nicholls State University, Thibodaux, LA 1:00 P.M. 6 Saturday University of New Orleans, Thibodaux, LA 4:00 P.M. 7 Sunday Nicholls State University, Baton Rouge, LA 1:00 P.M. 9 Tuesday Southeastern Louisiana Univ., Baton Rouge, LA 6:00 P.M. 13 Saturday *+Prairie View A&M Univ., Baton Rouge, LA 12:00 NOON 14 Sunday *Prairie View A&M Univ., Baton Rouge, LA 1:00 P.M. 16 Tuesday Univ. of Louisiana-Lafayette, Lafayette, LA 6:00 P.M. 20 Saturday +Baton Rouge CC (Exhibition) Baton Rouge, LA 1:00 P.M. 21 Sunday Baton Rouge CC (Exhibition) Baton Rouge, LA (Pete Goldsgy Field) 1:00 P.M. 23 Tuesday Nicholls State University, Baton Rouge, LA 6:00 P.M. 27 Saturday *+Arkansas Pine Bluff Univ., Pine Bluff, AR 1:00 P.M. 28 Sunday *Arkansas Pine Bluff Univ., Pine Bluff, AR 1:00 P.M. 30 Tuesday Nicholls State University, Thibodaux, LA 6:00 P.M.
APRIL 3 Saturday *+Texas Southern University Baton Rouge, LA 12:00 NOON 4 Sunday *Texas Southern University Baton Rouge, LA 1:00 P.M. 6 Tuesday University of New Orleans Baton Rouge, LA 6:30 P.M. 10 Saturday *+Grambling State Univ. Baton Rouge, LA 12:00 NOON 11 Sunday *Grambling State Univ. Baton Rouge, LA 1:00 P.M. 13 Tuesday University of Loyola Baton Rouge, LA 6:00 P.M. 17 Saturday *+Prairie View A&M Univ. Prairie View, TX 1:00P.M. 18 Sunday *Prairie View A&M Univ. Prairie View, TX 1:00P.M. 20 Tuesday Delgado CC (Exhibition) Baton Rouge, LA 6:00 P.M. 21 Wednesday FAMU, Baton Rouge, LA 6:00 P.M. 22 Thursday FAMU, Baton Rouge, LA 3:00 P.M. 24 Saturday Jackson State University Baton Rouge, LA 1:00 P.M. 25 Sunday Jackson State University Jackson, MS 1:00 P.M. 27 Tuesday Southeastern Louisiana Hammond, LA 6:00 P.M.
MAY 1 Saturday *+Arkansas Pine Bluff Univ. Baton Rouge, LA 12:00 NOON 2 Sunday *Arkansas Pine Bluff Univ. Baton Rouge, LA 1:00 P.M. 5 Wednesday Alcorn State University Lorman, MS 6:00 P.M. 8 Saturday *+Texas Southern University Houston, TX 1:00 P.M. 9 Sunday *Texas Southern University Houston, TX 1:00 P.M. 11 Tuesday Univ. of Louisiana Lafayette Baton Rouge, LA 6:00 P.M. 15 Saturday *+Grambling State Univ. Grambling, LA 1:00 P.M. 16 Sunday *Grambling State Univ. Grambling, LA 1:00 P.M. 18 Tuesday Alcorn State University Baton Rouge, LA 6:00 P.M. 26-29 Wed.-Sun. SWAC Tournament Shreveport, LA TBA
Bold = Home Games * = Conference Games + = Double Header Games All game times are Central
BIRMINGHAM, AL — Southern pitcher Jarrett Maloy was named Southwestern Conference preseason pitcher of the year, while the Jaguars were picked to defend their Western Division title, according to the league’s coaches and sports information departments. Prairie View A&M outfielder Myrio Richard was voted preseason player of the year, while Jackson State was predicted to repeat as Eastern champions, according to a conference news release late Wednesday night.
“Being picked to defend the title in the West is not really our goal,” Southern baseball coach Roger Cador said. “It’s an honor, but our goal is to win the whole conference.” The Jaguars begin their season on the road Friday against the University of San Diego. The Jaguars’ home opener is March 4 against Southeastern Louisiana. Maloy, a 6-1, 180-pound junior from Tallahassee, Fla., posted a 9-3 record with a 5.43 ERA (second in SWAC) last season. His win total tied for second highest in the conference.
Two of Southern’s latest baseball signees checked in with school beginning this week.
Terrell Stringer, a 6-foot-5, 215-pound right-handed pitcher originally from Phenix City, Ala., was the 1,264th pick (42nd round) by the New York Mets in 2006, when he was a Class 6A All-State honorable mention at Smiths Station High.
Shortstop/second baseman D.J. Henderson (6-2, 175) of Southeastern High School in Detroit was picked in the 30th round, with the 916th overall pick, by the Philadelphia Phillies. Stringer further bolsters a pitching staff, while Henderson can help fill in at second base. “Terrell was the one we had to have,” Cador said. “We tried to recruit him out of high school, and we got him two years later. We needed that one big arm.”
Photo: 2007 SWAC Championship game with Southern vs. Prairie View; Southern Jaguars head coach Roger Cador is on left in third base box.
As if rebuilding most of its pitching staff, from starters to bullpen, wasn’t enough, Southern’s baseball team also faces another daunting challenge: reconstructing its infield.
While junior Calvin Anderson is a mainstay at first base, Southern, 26-18 and the Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament runner-up last season, projects to have three new starters in the infield: freshman Demario Ellis, from Pasadena (Calif.), at second base; junior Michael Oliver, a transfer from Consumnes River College, at shortstop; and junior Romeo Bracey, from Kanakakee Community College, at third base.
“Those kids have shown me enough, in the fall and now,” coach Roger Cador said.
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Southern University Coach Roger Cador is taking it easy and will allow assistant coach Fernando Puebla to run the team during the SWAC Tournament.
