LAFAYETTE — Tony Robichaux has been impressed with how well his team has handled setbacks this season — a year in which the Ragin’ Cajuns have dealt with numerous injuries to key starters and a slew of difficult defeats including starting the season 12-16 overall.

“They have been able to bounce back from setbacks which we will need because we had two setbacks this past weekend,” Robichaux said. 

“They have also done a good job of learning from those setbacks.”

UL Lafayette will need to quickly put a pair of setbacks from this past weekend behind them if the team wants to win the Sun Belt Conference West Division title and keep its hopes alive of earning an at-large berth into NCAA Regional. 

The Cajuns entered this past weekend’s SBC series at Texas State having won five straight weekend series and were looking to keep that going against a team below .500 with an RPI of 139. 

The Bobcats though would take the series by winning the final two games of the series.

“We played good in game one,” said Robichaux, who’s team hosts Tulane on Tuesday. 

“In game two, we pitched well, our starting pitcher Hogan (Harris) threw another good game for us but we let it get away from us in the seventh. 

We had some base running mistakes throughout the game that we left some runs on base that could have helped us. We got to do a better job there. 

“Going in to Sunday, we got off to a good start and pushed them and could have broken the game out in the first inning but we didn’t do that,” Robichaux said. 

Despite the setbacks, the Cajuns remaining a half-game up on Little Rock in the SBC West Division standings with four games to go before the SBC Tournament. 

By winning the West Division, the Cajuns would automatically earn the No. 2 seed in the tournament which is being played at Russo Park. The tournament’s top seed was clinched by Coastal Carolina over the weekend.

“Whether we would have come back 2-1 or swept them either way you need to put the week behind you,” Robichaux said.

This week the Cajuns (29-23, RPI 57) will take on a pair of struggling teams In Tulane (24-28, RPI 90) and UL-Monroe (22-28, RPI 191).

Robichaux said his team can’t focus on what the other team’s records or RPI rankings are and is only worried about fixing what cost them the two games in San Marcos this past weekend. 

Robichaux is looking for his team to get back to the style of play that helped them go 17-7 in the second half of the season. 

“We’ve got to keep doing the things we’ve done in the second half,” Robichaux said. 

“We’ve got to continue our pitching, play good defense and keep the score down.”

Robichaux believes this team, who has overcome such adversity, can do just that. 

“They could have packed it in a long time ago but they didn’t,” Robichaux said. “They still have a lot in front of them.”