Louisiana
Rod Walker: The state of Louisiana had plenty to stick its chest out about this baseball season
Louisiana is a football state today and always.
But for the past five months, baseball in the boot took this state on one heckuva ride.
From perennial power LSU to upstart Dillard University, there was plenty for baseball fans to gloat about in 2023.
The crowning glory of that, of course, was Monday night when the LSU Tigers claimed their seventh national championship in a lopsided victory over Florida in Omaha, Nebraska.
LSU faithful waited 14 long years for another title, which is a really long time in Tiger years after Skip Bertman spoiled the purple and gold with five titles in a 10-year span from 1991-2000.
It capped off a baseball season that will be remembered for a mighty long time in Baton Rouge for a team that ended up living up to the hype of being the preseason No. 1 team in all of college baseball.
“It’s one thing to know you have a good team or a talented team,” second-year LSU coach Jay Johnson said at Wednesday’s championship celebration. “It’s an entirely different thing to be committed to it every single day and follow through step by step.”
Even with their backs seemingly against the wall after getting destroyed 24-4 in Game 2 of the championship series, the Tigers rallied back in the decisive game to win 18-4.
“Who in the world loses a game by 20, then comes back to win a natty by 14,” LSU president William F. Tate IV said about the championship. “That’s swag.”
And that bounce back from one day to the next wasn’t even the craziest about-face in Louisiana this season.
That distinction belongs to the Tulane baseball team.
The Green Wave went a dismal 15-39 during the regular season. Then the team went to Clearwater, Florida, for the American Athletic Conference tournament and got as hot as the current New Orleans temperatures. Tulane ended up winning the AAC title to clinch an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, the program’s first trip since 2016.
“As long as there is breath in the lungs, you have a chance to be in the fight,” first-year Tulane coach Jay Uhlman said after the Wave won the conference tournament. “We had breath in our lungs, and we had to be beaten twice to be eliminated. When you have kids that believe and have a want, these type of things show up.”
Tulane went 0-2 in the Baton Rouge regional, losing to LSU in the opener and then getting eliminated by Sam Houston State. Perhaps here’s some consolation: The Wave got seven hits off LSU ace Paul Skenes, making Tulane one of just two teams (Kentucky was the other) to do that against the guy who will be one of the first people to have his name called during next week’s MLB draft.
Speaking of comebacks, there was Nicholls State. The Colonels returned to the NCAA tournament for the first time in 25 years by beating UNO in an all-Louisiana title game in the Southland Conference. They then went to the Tuscaloosa regional and put a scare in Alabama before falling 4-3, then getting eliminated a day later by Boston College.
UL lost to Coastal Carolina in the Sun Belt Conference title game but still earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. It was the Ragin’ Cajuns’ second straight NCAA tournament trip, and it also gave the state of Louisiana four teams in the tournament for a third straight year. It was the ninth time overall that at least four teams from Louisiana made the tournament. The state’s best year was 2000 when six teams (LSU, Tulane, UL, UNO, McNeese and UL-Monroe all made it) made the field.
It didn’t stop there.
Delgado went 47-13, tying the mark for most wins in a season on its way to finishing fifth in the Division I JUCO World Series.
LSU-Eunice finished the season with a mind-boggling 53-5 record.
And then there was the new kid on the block.
Dillard University never had fielded a baseball team until this season. The Bleu Devils, who compete in NAIA, won the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference in their very first season.
“Nobody really believed that we were going to win the championship in our first year,” Dillard coach Trennis Grant said. “I don’t think the kids even believed it at first. But I kept saying to them, ‘We can do this.’ ”
His message to his team this season was a simple one.
“Let’s make history.”
His team delivered.
So did the rest of Louisiana.
Louisiana
Seeking Louisiana Young Heroes for 2025
Louisiana
Louisiana prisons routinely hold inmates past their release date, Justice Department argues
Louisiana’s prison system routinely holds inmates for weeks or months after they were supposed to be released from custody following the completion of their sentences, the U.S. Justice Department said in a lawsuit filed Friday.
The lawsuit against the state comes after a multi-year investigation into a pattern of “systemic overdetention” that violates inmates’ rights and costs taxpayers millions of dollars per year.
Since at least 2012, more than a quarter of the inmates scheduled to be released from Louisiana prisons have been held past their release dates, according to the DOJ.
LOUISIANA LAWMAKERS WEIGHING CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT THAT WOULD SEND MORE JUVENILE OFFENDERS TO ADULT JAILS
The Justice Department warned Louisiana officials last year that it may file a lawsuit against the state if it failed to fix the problems. Lawyers for the department argue that the state made “marginal efforts” to address the issues, noting that such attempts at a fix were “inadequate” and showed a “deliberate indifference” to the constitutional rights of inmates.
“[T]he right to individual liberty includes the right to be released from incarceration on time after the term set by the court has ended,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said in a statement.
“To incarcerate people indefinitely … not only intrudes on individual liberty, but also erodes public confidence in the fair and just application of our laws,” the statement added.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry and state Attorney General Liz Murrill, both Republicans, attributed the problem to the “failed criminal justice reforms” pushed by “the past administration.”
“This past year, we have taken significant action to keep Louisianans safe and ensure those who commit the crime, also do the time,” Landry and Murrill said in a joint statement to The Associated Press. “The State of Louisiana is committed to preserving the constitutional rights of Louisiana citizens.”
BIDEN CONSIDERS COMMUTING THE SENTENCES OF FEDERAL DEATH ROW INMATES: REPORT
The two state officials also purported that the lawsuit is a last-ditch effort by President Biden, who leaves office next month, arguing that President-elect Trump’s incoming administration would not have pursued the case.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Advocates have repeatedly challenged the conditions in Louisiana’s prison system, which includes Angola, the largest maximum-security prison in the nation, where inmates pick vegetables by hand on an 18,000-acre lot. The site was once the Angola Plantations, a slave plantation owned by Isaac Franklin and named after Angola, the country of origin for many of the enslaved people who worked there.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Louisiana
Army Black Knights Predicted to Beat Louisiana Tech in Independence Bowl
The Army West Point Black Knights came up short in their last game, as they lost their annual rivalry matchup against the Navy Midshipmen 31-13 to lose the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy.
But, their season is not yet over, as they will have a chance to finish things on a high note in the Independence Bowl against a new opponent; the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs.
Originally, the Black Knights were supposed to face off against the Marshall Thundering Herd, but a change had to be made after they experienced a mass exodus of players entering the transfer portal following a coaching change.
Based on records, the quality of the opponent would seem to have dropped off considerably. Marshall had 10 victories, while Louisiana Tech had only five.
But, Adam Rittenberg of ESPN still believes that this will be a competitive game in Shreveport, La. in the Bulldogs’ backyard. Louisiana Tech is in Ruston, La., 70 miles away from Shreveport.
He predicted that Army will sneak away with a 23-16 victory.
“he Bulldogs have half the number of wins as the Thundering Herd, but their defense can be very stingy at times, and will need to perform against Bryson Daily and the Black Knights. … Army is undoubtedly still smarting from the Navy loss, and top running back Kanye Udoh entered the portal. Louisiana Tech jumps ahead early behind quarterback Evan Bullock, but Army eventually takes control and grinds out a low-scoring win, its 12th on the season.”
Rittenberg pointed out that several of LA Tech’s defensive linemen have entered the transfer portal. Udoh just announced his transfer to Arizona State.
This has already been one of the best seasons in program history, as they reached the 11-win mark only one other time in 2018. But, an argument can be made this is their best season since it won its last national championship because it was not independent.
The Black Knights were a member of the American Athletic Conference, the first time since 1998-2004 that they weren’t independent as a member of Conference USA. They found a ton of success, going 8-0 in the regular season before defeating the Tulane Green Wave in the AAC Championship Game in West Point, New York.
Army has shown an ability to grind out wins, playing a physical style of football on both sides of the ball. Daily is the leader offensively, producing with his arm and legs at a high level.
He threw for 942 yards with nine touchdowns and only four interceptions, three of which came in the matchup against Navy. On the ground, he led the AAC with 283 carries, 1,532 yards and 29 scores.
His 29 rushing touchdowns were the most in the country, as he won the 2024 AAC Player of the Year Award.
The Black Knights would love to see Daily provide one more memorable performance to help the team reach the 12-win mark for the first time in program history.
-
Politics1 week ago
Canadian premier threatens to cut off energy imports to US if Trump imposes tariff on country
-
Technology1 week ago
OpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever says the way AI is built is about to change
-
Politics1 week ago
U.S. Supreme Court will decide if oil industry may sue to block California's zero-emissions goal
-
Technology1 week ago
Meta asks the US government to block OpenAI’s switch to a for-profit
-
Business1 week ago
Freddie Freeman's World Series walk-off grand slam baseball sells at auction for $1.56 million
-
Technology1 week ago
Meta’s Instagram boss: who posted something matters more in the AI age
-
News1 week ago
East’s wintry mix could make travel dicey. And yes, that was a tornado in Calif.
-
Technology2 days ago
Google’s counteroffer to the government trying to break it up is unbundling Android apps