Lafayette (KATC) – On Friday night when Louisiana baseball hosts no. 23 Texas, Gunner Leger will make his return to the mound. How he does, how he looks after more than 600 days away from an actual game, and who follows him remain much of a mystery heading into the new season.
Head Coach Tony Robichaux spoke highly of Leger Monday, believing the senior ace was further along than he expected, “I thought he’d be rustier than we saw,” Robe said Monday. Leger missed 2018 after having two surgeries including one on his throwing elbow.
The Cajuns will pitch junior college transfer Brandon Young on Saturday, and after that things get a little fuzzy. Louisiana won’t commit to a Sunday starter, but associate head coach Anthony Babineaux told ESPN 1420 it will likely be either sophomore Austin Perrin, or TCU junior transfer Dalton Horton.
A few new and young names stand out on the Cajuns’ staff like Austin Bradford, Chance Stone and Connor Cook (no, not the Michigan State quarterback, in case you were wondering.) The returning pitchers who played a year ago are Perrin, who started eight games last year, Jack Burk, who started 12, Brock Batty, Michael Leaumont, Caleb Armstrong and Jacob Norman.
“You’ve got a lot of young arms that are going to have to go out in get in a lot of high stress situations to see if they can handle that,” said Robichaux. “They don’t send a pilot up in pilot school and let him solo a plane. They start him in a simulator, fly with an instructor until he’s good enough to be left alone. We don’t have that time.”
