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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – For the second time in two days, Louisiana was forced to claw its way back from a deficit as the Ragin’ Cajuns scored five runs in the eighth to dispatch the UALR Trojans 8-7 Sunday at Gary Hogan Field.
Louisiana’s (9-12, 4-5 Sun Belt) win clinched its first Sun Belt series sweep of the season and its second straight against UALR (4-16, 1-6 Sun Belt). The Trojans’ suffered their first Sun Belt series sweep at home since 2006.
Freshman Michael Cook (Lafayette, La.) earned the victory, allowing one run on three hits in 3 1/3 innings. Cook (3-1) struck out three batters in relief. Justin Robichaux (Crowley, La.) notched his second save in two days, retiring the last two UALR batters in the ninth inning.
Senior Brent Solich (Lakewood Ranch, Fla.) avoided his fourth loss as a starter as he was off the hook after the Cajuns tied the game in the eighth. Solich was touched for six runs – four earned – on eight hits in five innings of work, striking out two.
Five Cajuns recorded two or more hits with Josh Logan (Magee, Miss.) leading the way with a 3-for-4 performance with three RBI. Tyler Benzel (Groveland, Fla.) and Matt Hicks (Houston, Texas) also went 3-for-4.
UALR’s Ashur Tolliver, for whom the Cajuns victimized last season in their epic 28-3 win that clinched the Sun Belt Conference championship, pitched well until the eighth when he allowed the tying run to cross the plate. Tolliver allowed six runs on 11 hits in 7 1/3 innings.
After holding Louisiana’s bats to one base runner in the first two innings, UALR jumped out on top 1-0 in the home half of the second. On the second pitcher of the inning, Robert Taylor sent Solich’s offering over the fence in right centerfield for a 1-0 Trojans lead.
UALR continued to rattle Solich in the third as the Trojans pushed across two more runs for a 3-0 lead. With a runner in scoring position, Taylor drove in two more runs with a RBI double down the left field line.
Two innings later, the Cajuns posted a three-run fifth inning to knot the game at three all. Blaine LaFleur (Opelousas, La.) led off with an infield single that skirted between the UALR shortstop and third baseman. Benzel later roped a one-out single through left side, moving LaFleur to second.
Hicks then drove in Louisiana’s first run with a RBI single to left field, scoring LaFleur. Logan continued his stellar weekend play, clearing the bases with a two-RBI triple to centerfield. Logan’s three-bagger provided the game’s tying runs as the Cajuns pulled even at 3-3 after four and a half innings.
However, things began to unravel for the Cajuns as the defense committed three errors, which allowed UALR to hang a three-spot for a 6-3 lead in the sixth. Taylor led off with a single that hooked past a moving William Long (Valrico, Fla.). Taylor later moved to third as Brad Swiderski laid down a sacrifice bunt, but the throw by Solich sailed over the head of Hicks covering at first base.
Taylor scored the go-ahead run, 4-3, from third on a wild pitch. Kody Kroll then drove in a second run, 5-3, on a RBI double to left centerfield. With Solich in a jam, the freshman Cook came on relief of the senior. A third Cajuns error in the inning – this time by Robichaux – allowed Kroll to score, putting UALR ahead by three, 6-3.
In the seventh, Louisiana wasted an opportunity to cut into the UALR lead as the Cajuns had runners on first and second with one out. However, Long grounded into the 4-6-3 double play to end the Cajuns scoring threat.
Louisiana fought its way back into the game in the eighth inning as the Cajuns sent nine batters to the plate, scoring five in the frame to take an 8-6 lead. hit his second home run of the weekend to lead off the inning – an opposite-field effort – to cut the UALR lead to 6-4. Scott Hawkins (Collierville, Tenn.) followed with a double down the left field line before coming home on Chance Harst’s (Lafayette, La.) first career home run. Harst’s two-run blast to left centerfield knotted the contest at six all.
Benzel’s RBI single gave Louisiana its first lead of the day, 7-6. Hicks followed with a RBI double to extended the Cajuns’ lead to two, 8-6.
In the ninth, after UALR pulled to within one, Robichaux retired the next two batters to end the game, while Harst’s catch in left field to record the final out prevented UALR from scoring.
Louisiana returns to action Wednesday when the Ragin’ Cajuns conclude their nine-game road trip at Northwestern State in Natchitoches. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Brown-Stroud Field.
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Chris Yandle
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