Southern's Cador savors 2-week twin bill

Coach Roger Cador (left)

Baton Rouge, LA - Southern baseball coach Roger Cador experienced a special doubleheader in the past couple of weeks. It started July 3 in Lubbock, Texas, when he witnessed Danny Goodwin, a teammate of his with the Jaguars in 1972-73, becoming the first Southern player inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame.

The nightcap came Tuesday night in Phoenix when Cador was at Chase Field to watch Brewers second baseman Rickie Weeks become the first player he has coached to play in the Major League All-Star game.

“To see a former teammate and also the first player from Southern go into the College Baseball Hall of Fame was really rewarding,” Cador said after returning to Baton Rouge on Wednesday. “And the All-Star events are always exciting. You get to see and meet so many people, shake hands and talk to everyone. Everyone wants to talk. That’s the beauty of it.”

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Southern Jaguars start with series against UNO

Southern University Head Baseball Coach Roger Cador

That loud, bold belly-laugh could’ve only come from one place. That wide, toothy grin could’ve only come from one face. Thursday afternoon at Lee-Hines Field, members of the Southern University baseball team took turns at the plate, pounding line drives and ground balls in final their batting practice before the season opener.

Suddenly, a sound came from one end of the third-base dugout — that loud, distinct laugh. It belonged, of course, to Roger Cador. From the look (and sound) of it, he was in his element. The winter weather had given way to a sunny, mild day, and another baseball season neared. What could be better?

“I was very concerned with the way things were going,” a smiling Cador said. “But the weather we have now — oh, it feels like spring. Life is good. It’s a beautiful day. ... Of course, when you get to be my age, everything is beautiful.”

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Privateers, Jaguars Open 2011 Baseball Season This Weekend

BATON ROUGE, La. - The University of New Orleans baseball program will open its 2011 campaign on Friday when it travels to face in-state rival Southern in the first game of a split three-game series at Lee Hines Field.

First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 6 p.m. with the series moving to Maestri Field on Saturday for a 4 p.m. start before turning to Baton Rouge for the series finale at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

There will be no live audio or video over the weekend, with live stats and Twitter updates planned for Saturday's home contest.

UNO posted a 13-39 mark last year and will compete as an NCAA Division I Independent in 2011 as part of the school's intended reclassification to NCAA Division II competition.

The Privateer baseball program previously participated as an NCAA Division I Independent from 1980 through 1987 under coaches Ron Maestri and Tom Schwaner, qualifying for the NCAA tournament on six separate occasions during the eight-year span of time, including a 1984 College World Series appearance, the first by a Division I program in the state of Louisiana.

This year's squad under head coach Bruce Peddie will have a different task laid before them.

With just three scholarship players on the roster, the team will proceed to play a schedule full of Division I opponents and just 11 contests on the Lakefront.

Of the three weekend starters against Southern (25-22 in 2010), just Friday starter Cory Myers (0-2, 10.24 ERA in 2010) has pitched for the Privateers.

Saturday starter Zach Kelt and Sunday starter Robert Ormbsee are making their first appearance for UNO after transferring in from Hinds Community College and LSU-Alexandria, respectively.

Nolan Church is the top returning bat for the Privateers after leading the team with a .328 batting average last year. JUCO transfers Cameron Wheeless at third base and Andrew Garcia in the outfield could also factor in offensively for UNO.

SU has two former Privateer players on the roster in Clint Ourso and Roddarick Jones.

Ourso made 13 appearances as the third-string catcher for the Privateers last season, while Jones who is sitting out this season, was the regular left fielder for UNO in 2009 and 2010.

Jaguars' head coach Roger Cador will send RHP Daniel Garcia to the mound on Friday and LHP Jesse Holiday on Saturday with a starter. Garcia will be making his first appearance since posting a 4-1 record with a 3.08 ERA in 2009 with Holiday going 5-0 with a 4.17 ERA in 2010 with four starts amongst 13 appearances. A Sunday starter has not been named.

Following this weekend's series, UNO will face nationally-ranked LSU on Tuesday at Alex Box Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

Courtesy: UNOPrivateers.com             Release: 02/17/2011

Cador ready to recruit, rebuild SU baseball

The Southwestern Athletic Conference handed out a championship trophy Sunday. The Southern baseball team wasn’t there to see it, much less accept it. The trophy instead rested in the hands of James Cooper, the coach at archrival Grambling, which earned the league’s automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. Monday, while the Tigers waited to learn their NCAA regional destination, the Jaguars were back home, contemplating a season that started with promise but ended in disappointment. Like most of its SWAC counterparts, Southern had talent but also its fair share of flaws.

The Jaguars still had a shot to win last week’s SWAC tournament because no other team was dominant. Jackson State, the Eastern Division champion, crashed and burned with two quick losses. Texas Southern, the West champion, lost its first game and flamed out Friday, two days before the title game. But the same flaws Southern displayed all season — among them, sloppy defense, poor situational hitting and a suspect starting rotation — ultimately doomed the Jaguars in an 8-7 tournament loss to Alcorn State. As a result, their season ended prematurely.

In a sense, Roger Cador’s 26th season as the SU baseball coach had ended long before that. Thanks to a since-fixed glitch in his pacemaker, Cador left his team in the hands of assistant coach Fernando Puebla over the final three weeks — and while Cador watched the tournament from the dugout, he made no in-game decisions. Now, Cador said, doctors have green-lighted his offseason workload, and he intends to get back to business.

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SU Cador hopes fish tale helps spark Jaguars‎

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.

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Southern Jaguars 12, Cal State Northridge 9

Jaguars rebound for 12-9 triumph

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.

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No. 23 UCLA Baseball Defeats Southern, 16-2, in Season Opener

LOS ANGELES - Right-hander Gerrit Cole allowed two runs and one hit in 6.0 innings to lead the No. 23 UCLA baseball team past Southern, 16-2, in the season opener for both teams in an MLB Urban Invitational contest on Friday evening at UCLA's Steele Field at Jackie Robinson Stadium.Cole (1-0) recorded nine strikeouts and no walks as the Bruins' starter.

UCLA (1-0) received at least one hit from each of its nine starters in the lineup. Designated hitter Blair Dunlap led the way with a 3-for-4 effort, including one homer, two RBI and two runs. Dunlap led off the bottom of the first by connecting on the first pitch from Southern left-hander Chase Richard for a solo homer to left. Right fielder Brett Krill finished 3-for-5 with one run, and shortstop Niko Gallego went 2-for-4 with a career-high four RBI. Catcher Steve Rodriguez belted one three-run homer in a 1-for-3 effort, collecting a career-high four RBI and two runs.

Richard (0-1) absorbed the loss for Southern, surrendering 13 runs (seven earned) and 12 hits in 4.0 innings. UCLA led 9-0 after the first inning by taking advantage of seven hits and one fielding error. Dunlap's solo blast in the first inning put the Bruins on the board. With one out and the bases loaded, Espy reached on a sacrifice fly to center that was dropped, sending home Rahmatulla.

After an RBI-single by freshman Cody Keefer and a two-out bases-loaded hit-by-pitch from Rodriguez, Dunlap reached on an RBI-bunt single and Gallego blooped a three-run double to center field. Rahmatulla's second hit of the inning scored Gallego for the Bruins' ninth run. Espy's solo homer in the bottom of the second extended UCLA's cushion to 10-0. Southern scored two runs in the top of the third. With one out, left fielder James Armstrong lined a run-scoring triple down the right-field line, scoring right fielder Michael Lindsey. A sacrifice fly to center by first baseman Frazier Hall plated Armstrong from third.

Box Score (PDF)

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Southern battles, falls to Minnesota Gophers

Coach Roger Cador ends year with a 30-17 mark with two-and-out in the NCAAs.

Sunglasses still covered much of his face. A gleaming dark-blue helmet still sat atop his head. Near home plate at Alex Box Stadium, Southern catcher Michael Thomas bent forward and placed his hands on his knees. His eyes searched the bright reddish-brown dirt for answers. Saturday afternoon, the Jaguars had just finished their last game of the season — an intense, emotional back-and-forth elimination game in the Baton Rouge Regional that ended in an 11-8 loss to Minnesota.

“A lot of pain,” Thomas said. “Standing out there, I thought we were going to pull out the win today.” For Thomas, this was tough to process. So many times, SU had battled back — not only in Saturday’s game, but for much of their wild and mostly successful 2009 season. Thomas, for his part, had returned to action after missing 20 games with a broken hand, one of many Jaguars who’d succumbed to injures over the season.

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2009 SEASON ONE OF UPS AND DOWNS FOR UAPB BASEBALL

Banged-up Southern University to host Coppin State

The Southern University baseball team, which hosts Coppin State tonight and has a key Western Division series this weekend at Grambling, is in a world of hurt.

Eight position players and two starting pitchers have a variety of injuries.

SU (5-7) hosts Coppin State (2-14), a member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, at 6 p.m. today at Lee-Hines Field.

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Southern rolls by Arkansas-Pine Bluff

PINE BLUFF, Ark. -- The Southern baseball team started Southwestern Athletic Conference play on a positive note, sweeping Arkansas-Pine Bluff in a doubleheader Sunday. In the first game, Chase Richard (1-0) went the full seven innings, striking out nine and giving up one run in a 10-1 win.

In the second game, Southern won 10-0 behind another complete game, this time from Jared Maloy. Maloy (1-2) gave up only three hits and struck out 12 with just one walk.

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Urban Youth Academy hosting tourney

Bethune-Cookman, Southern University on display in SoCal

The Major League Baseball Urban Youth Academy has become a true baseball gathering place, and that will become more evident when the academy hosts its first Urban Invitational Baseball Tournament this weekend in Compton, California.

Two historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), Bethune-Cookman University (Daytona Beach, Fla.) and Southern University (Baton Rouge, La.), will face off against local powerhouses UCLA and USC. The Urban Invitational was created, in part, to showcase the many uses for the academy, but, more importantly to bring attention to the two universities visiting Southern California.

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Southern University baseball looks to reconstruct infield

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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