Guillory Stepping Up For Junior Year With Ragin’ Cajuns

Evan Guillory started 31 games in his first two years with the Ragin' Cajuns. He's going to see a lot more action as a junior, and he's ready for whatever comes next.

Last season, he spent time as a weekend starter, and he pitched in the midweek, so he's used to adapting. His sophomore year was full of ups and downs, and Guillory wants to make sure 2017 is a smoother ride on the mound.

"I tried to improve on consistency mostly from last year because the beginning of the year was kind of rough for me, the middle of the year was pretty good, and the end of the year was pretty rough for me, so I think this year, this fall through all my starts, I tried to be more consistent," Guillory said.

Guillory is one of several seasoned veterans on the pitching staff. He came in with Gunner Leger, Dylan Moore and Wyatt Marks, and he started immediately. He grew up fast, and now he's mature on the mound.

Baseball is a game where you learn a lot of lessons the hard way. Guillory is hoping he can turn last year's bumps and bruises into some tough scar tissue.

"Last year I learned it's a marathon, not a sprint. It's not about the start, it's how you finish," Guillory said wisely. "We kind of coasted at the end of the year. We were on a hot streak then we kind of tried to feed off those wins that we were getting in the conference tournament and towards the end of the postseason, and it kind of fell back on us."

Gunner Leger and a couple other players on the team already said the goal this season is to reach Omaha, so they will have to use the experience they picked up the last few years to make it farther down the road in postseason play.

Guillory is a starter again for Coach Robe, and he's part of a pack of pitchers that came in together and went through the same growth process. They're not a bunch of youngsters anymore.

With all the depth on the pitching staff, Guillory thinks the team is locked and loaded with tons of arms that can make some noise.

"I would describe us as experienced," Guillory said. "We've all been here before, we've been in situations before, and we got a couple of new guys like Colten Schmidt, and I think Caleb Armstrong is going to help us a lot. We're deep."

In our 1-on-1 interview with Guillory in the video above, he talks more about the pitching staff, his new catcher Handsome Monica, the team's new home at Russo Park and everything related to the 2017 season.