Louisiana
Cagin’ the Cajuns: No. 3 Texas A&M Aggies Punch Ticket To Super Regionals With Win Over Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns
What better way to get one step closer to glory than in front of your home crowd?
The No. 3 Texas A&M Aggies took down the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns 9-4 Sunday night to win the College Station Regional at Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park, successfully defending their home turf with an undefeated record throughout the weekend.
The Aggies struck first in the third inning with an RBI single by Braden Montgomery scoring Travis Chestnut.
Louisiana would knot the game 1-1 the next half-inning, but home runs by Caden Sorrell and Montgomery in the top of the fourth inning essentially sealed the deal for the Maroon and White, giving them a 5-1 lead.
The lead was insured by a home run in the fifth inning by Hayden Schott, and a seventh inning bomb by Ali Camarillo set a new Aggie baseball record for most team home runs in a single season.
In the top of the ninth inning (the Aggies were designated the road team), Gavin Grahovac, the SEC Freshman of the Year, launched a ball into the right field seats to score two runs and take ownership of A&M’s rookie home run record, dethroning Jace LaViolette’s record set just last season.
In Louisiana’s half of the ninth, Louisiana mustered three runs off of base hits and a wild pitch, but the Aggies’ lead proved too great.
Shane Sdao captured a well-deserved win for Texas A&M pitching 5.1 innings, allowing six hits, one earned run, no walks and six strikeouts.
Following the win, outfielder Braden Montgomery was named the MVP of the College Station Regional as he went 2-6 with a home run, a single, and 4 RBI.
The Aggies will use this week to celebrate the weekend and await the Oregon Ducks, who will make a visit to College Station for the NCAA Super Regionals that will start on Friday. Texas A&M and Oregon will battle in a best-of-three series, with the winner moving on to Omaha for the Men’s College World Series.
A state lawmaker whose district includes Iberville and nine other parishes will lead the way on the drawing of a new congressional map when the committee convenes Friday.
Sen. Caleb Kleinpeter, R-Port Allen, will chair the hearings to draw a new congressional district map. He currently serves as chairman of the U.S. Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee.
On Wednesday, Kleinpeter said he has not worked on any maps. He is letting the committee members and the members of the Senate work on this with staff.
The move will come nine days after the U.S. Supreme Court on a 6-3 vote ruled one of Louisiana’s two majority-Black U.S. House districts unconstitutional.
“We can’t base it on race anymore, so the minority party is the Democrats,” he said. “The Democrats have migrated away from the New Orléans area, so we’re looking at Democrats versus Republicans, so the minority party — the Democrats — which means it’s more favored toward Baton Rouge.”
The move would work in favor of incumbent 6th District Congressman Cleo Fields, who was a candidate for the race which Gov. Jeff Lndry suspended in the wake of the Supreme Court decision.
The ruling stemmed from Louisiana vs. Callais – a consolidation of Robinson vs. Callais – that centered on racial gerrymandering and redistricting in the state of Louisiana following the 2020 United States census. The lead plaintiff, Phillip “Bert” Callais, is a resident of Brusly.
The Supreme Court vote came despite the African American population comprising nearly one-third of the state’s population.
According to the 2020 Census, the Black or African American population in Louisiana was approximately 1,464,023,representing 31.4%of the state’s total population. Louisiana has one of the highest percentages of Black residents in the United States, ranking second behind Mississippi.
The Baton Rouge district would likely be the area to undergo the remap, he said.
It amounts to an intricate balancing act.
“What far-right Republicans don’t understand is that with Congress maps, you have to be within 776, 280 votes – within 50 votes of the other districts,” Kleinpeter said. “It’s not like our legislative maps where you can be off by thousands … when you start changing a precinct, it can run down a rabbit hole chasing this precinct over here and over there.
“We can easily draw a really strong nine Republican and one strong Democrat, so if you start watering districts down you could wind up with a 4-2 map.”
Republicans currently have a two-vote super majority vote.
“But some Republican districts are strong and others are weak,” Kleinpeter said. “If you take 58 percent Democrats and put them in Republican districts, you could end up losing Republicans.
“Drawing congress maps is very difficult – you have the leader of the party, and you have the Speaker of the House you have to protect,” he said. “You don’t want to jeopardize their maps at hole.”
One other issue is looming for the state, Kleinpeter said.
“What people don’t understand is that we will have to do this all over again in five years, after the next census comes out,” he said. “Hopefully we’ll people by that time.”
The 2030 Census will play a key role in the process, but it still requires participation.
“I had plenty of next-door neighbors who didn’t want to fill out their census” he said. “I’m going to push to fill out their census. We miss out on federal money and potentially risk losing a seat. “
Neuty, the iconic Bucktown nutria visits the state capitol, with Myra Lacoste, Denny Lacoste, Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser, Dennis Lacoste Sr., and Louisiana state Senator J. Cameron Henry Jr. Neuty was an orphan, rescued by the Lacostes. In March 2023, LDWF agents attempted to confiscate the illegal pet.
VIDALIA, La. — Louisiana State Police arrested 18-year-old Gregory Steele early Sunday morning on two counts of vehicular homicide, one count of underage operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, one count vehicular negligent injuring and one count careless operation, according to Concordia Parish Jail records.
Steele, 18, a white male, was arrested in connection with an accident that occurred at approximately 1:54 a.m. on Sunday morning on Minorca Road in Vidalia. Two passengers in the vehicle were killed. Steele and another passenger were able to escape the vehicle.
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