Louisiana
DeBarge's ninth-inning single helps Louisiana claims series at Georgia Southern
Junior shortstop ties single-season, school record with his 19th home run
STATESBORO, Ga. – Junior shortstop Kyle DeBarge etched his name into the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns Baseball record book with his 19th home run of the season before his two-out, RBI single in the top of the ninth broke a 4-4 deadlock and led No. 22 Louisiana to a 6-4 win against Georgia Southern on Saturday at J.I. Clements Stadium.
Ben Robichaux and Jose Torres each drove in runs as Louisiana (37-15, 20-6 SBC) maintained its three-game lead over Troy and Southern Miss in the Sun Belt Conference standings with four league games remaining.
The final game of the three-game series will start on Sunday at noon CDT. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ with fans able to listen to the game in the Lafayette area on KPEL-FM (96.5) and worldwide on the Varsity Network app.
DeBarge hit a solo home run in the third inning off Georgia Southern starter Ty Fisher for his 19th home run of the season, giving Louisiana a 3-0 lead and tying him with David King (1989) and David Alvis (1985) for the most in the school’s rich baseball history.
His game-winning heroics in the ninth came Bryan Broussard, Jr., reached on a one-out single to chase Georgia Southern reliever Mitchell Gross (2-4) before Conor Higgs drew a two-out walk off southpaw Jacob Phillips.
DeBarge then lifted a 1-and-1 pitch from Phillips into right field for his second hit of the day and allowing Broussard to score from second ahead of a throw by right-fielder Sam Blancato. The Ragin’ Cajuns would add an insurance run when Higgs scored from third after a Phillips wild pitch.
Louisiana took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Taylor reached on a leadoff single and moved to second on a walk to Caleb Stelly. Ben Robichaux, whose first hit of the season was a grand slam in Friday’s 19-3 win, then singled up the middle to drive in Taylor before Stelly would score from third on Torres’ sacrifice bunt up the first-base line.
Taylor gave Louisiana a 4-0 lead in the third when he reached on an error, moved to third on Stelly’s single up the middle and scored on a wild pitch.
Georgia Southern chipped away at the lead scoring three runs in the sixth inning after Sean Smith’s double to center drove in Blancato and Jarrett Brown. TJ McKenzie would drive in Sean White with a sacrifice fly to right before Louisiana reliever Blake McGehee fanned Cade Parker to end the threat.
Blancato, who went 3-for-4 to lead Georgia Southern at the plate then tied the game in the seventh when his two-out, solo homer to right cleared the wall in right.
JT Etheridge (3-2) earned the win for Louisiana after pitching 1.2 innings of no-hit relief with three strikeouts. The senior right-hander relieved McGehee in the eighth after Smith singled and moved up on an error before getting thrown out at third trying to advance on a wild pitch.
Etheridge would then end the inning striking out McKenzie before retiring three straight batters in the ninth after issuing a leadoff walk to Parker.
Chase Morgan struck out nine batters and scattered four hits in 5.0 scoreless innings for Louisiana. McGehee, the third of four pitchers used by the Ragin’ Cajuns, struck out two and allowed a run in 2.0 innings of relief.
DeBarge and Taylor had two hits each for Louisiana, which held a 9-8 advantage at the plate and stranded nine runners, while Trey LaFleur went 1-for-5 with double while Duncan Pastore added an eighth-inning single to extend his hit streak to a team-high nine games.
Single-game tickets are available by visiting the Louisiana Athletics Box Office at the Cajundome or purchasing by visiting Account Manager. For more information call the Louisiana Athletics Box Office at the Cajundome at (337) 265-2104.
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Louisiana
Federal appeals court upholds Texas’ Ten Commandments law. What does it mean for Louisiana?
A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld a Texas law requiring public schools to post the Ten Commandments, just weeks after the same court allowed a similar Louisiana law to take effect.
A majority of judges on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Texas’ law, which is nearly identical to Louisiana’s, is constitutional and does not violate students’ religious freedom. In February, the court lifted an injunction on Louisiana’s law, which cleared schools to put up the posters, but the judges said it was too early to rule on that law’s constitutionality.
Tuesday’s ruling could bode well for Louisiana’s law if it eventually returns to the 5th Circuit, considered the country’s most conservative federal court of appeals.
In their majority opinion, the judges rejected the argument that posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms would pressure students to honor the biblical mandates or adopt particular beliefs.
“To plaintiffs, merely exposing children to religious language is enough to make the displays engines of coercive indoctrination. We disagree,” the majority wrote about the Texas law, known as S.B. 10. A minority of the court’s active judges dissented.
Even though Tuesday’s ruling only addressed the Texas case, defenders of Louisiana’s legislation celebrated it as a victory. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said the 5th Circuit’s argument in upholding Texas’ law was identical to the one Louisiana made in defense of its law.
“Our law clearly was always constitutional,” she posted on X, “and I am grateful that the Fifth Circuit has now definitively agreed with us.”
Louisiana’s Republican-controlled Legislature passed the law in 2024, which requires all public K-12 schools and colleges to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom. A group of parents quickly challenged the law in court, and a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction that stopped the state from enforcing the law.
In February, the 5th Circuit reversed the lower court’s decision, saying it had been premature to block the law before it took effect. The judges said they could not rule on the law’s constitutionality before seeing how it played out in schools.
But in the case of Texas’ law, which that state’s Republican-led Legislature passed in 2025, the court did rule on the merits.
Rejecting arguments made by attorneys for the Texas families who challenged the law, the 5th Circuit majority said that requiring public schools to post the Ten Commandments does not amount to the government endorsing a particular religion, which the U.S. Constitution forbids. The law also does not impose religious beliefs on students, the judges wrote.
“As noted, S.B. 10 authorizes no religious instruction and gives teachers no license to contradict children’s religious beliefs (or their parents’),” the majority opinion says. “No child is made to recite the Commandments, believe them, or affirm their divine origin.”
The Texas families were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Texas, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, with the law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP serving as pro bono counsel. The same groups, including Louisiana’s ACLU chapter, represented the Louisiana families.
In a statement Tuesday, the organizations said they are “extremely disappointed” by the 5th Circuit’s ruling, adding that they expect to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“The First Amendment safeguards the separation of church and state, and the freedom of families to choose how, when and if to provide their children with religious instruction,” the groups said. “This decision tramples those rights.”
Nearly all major industries in Louisiana added jobs over the past year, signaling momentum for a stronger future, according to a recent report from Leaders for a Better Louisiana.
The organizat…
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SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) — Police say a man shot and killed eight children, including seven of his own, following a domestic dispute in Shreveport.
The incident took place early Sunday morning, April 19, on West 79th Street in the Cedar Grove neighborhood. According to the Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office, the victims included three boys and five girls, aged between three and 11-years-old. Seven of the children were siblings, while one was a cousin. Two adult females were also injured, including one who was shot at a home located in the 500 block of Harrison Street.
One of the adults was inside the home on West 79th Street when the children were killed. She managed to escape through a window with two of the children and reached the roof. The woman jumped down with one of the children. Unfortunately, the other child did not manage to escape. Police later found his body on the roof with a gunshot wound. The surviving child was taken to the hospital with a broken leg.
The children were identified by their mothers as Jayla (age 3), Shayla (age 5), Kayla (age 6), Layla (age 7), Markaydon (age 10), Sariahh (age 11), Khedarrion (age 6), and Braylon (age 5).
Authorities say the suspect and father of the victims, Shamar Elkins, was the only person who fired shots that led to the juveniles’ deaths.
Authorities noted that Elkins stole a vehicle near West 79th Street after he shot the victims. He was pursued by patrol officers into Bossier Parish, where they discharged their weapons and fatally shot him on Brompton Lane. Louisiana State Police will take over the investigation involving the officers.
Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux expressed his thoughts on the matter, saying, “We have a hurting community. We have hurting families. We have hurting police officers, coroner’s personnel, fire department, sheriff people, and this affects the entire community. We all mourn with these families. I ask, it’s a Sunday morning. I ask all of you who are, who are listening, who might be able to. Pray at your services this morning for not just this family, for all the victims, for the victims who are at the hospital, and for the Cedar Grove community and for the community at large.”
Attorney General Liz Murrill also commented on the tragic shooting, stating, “Multiple law enforcement agencies are investigating this tragic situation. We do not yet know all the details, but I am deeply saddened by the senseless loss of life. I’m praying for the victims and their family members in the wake of this devastating violence.”
According to the Director of Strategy and Communications, Mary Nash-Wood, two of the children attended Summer Grove, and at least four attended Linwood Charter School.
The police have not determined a motive. More updates will be provided as the information becomes available.
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