Freshman Glass steps up in win over Cal-Davis

<blockquote><p align=justify>HONOLULU, Hawaii - Another day, another new pitching hero for the University of Louisiana baseball team.

Friday, it was freshman righthander Buddy Glass, who pitched a masterful eight innings in only his second appearance of the season and led the Ragin' Cajuns to a 6-2 victory over Cal-Davis in the First Hawai'i Trust Rainbow Tournament.

The 21st-ranked Cajuns improved to 14-0 on the season, snapping the school mark for victories at the start of the season. The 1994 UL squad won its first 13 appearances.

The Cajun squad also took its fourth victory in the Rainbow meet, locking up the tournament title in the six-team double-elimination tournament.

UL is 4-0 in the tournament heading into tonight's 10:35 p.m. (CST) contest against the host Hawai'i squad, and Wichita State is the only other team in the tourney can finish with only one loss. The Cajuns beat the Shockers 19-3 in their head-up meeting Monday.

Glass was the biggest reason for the Cajuns' fourth win in four nights, checking the Aggies (7-9) on only three hits through eight innings. The Clermont, Fla., native fanned five and gave up only an unearned run in the fifth inning.

Glass' only previous appearance was nearly a month ago when he started the Cajuns' Feb. 12 home game against La. Tech. He allowed five hits, four earned runs and three walks in one and two-thirds innings, but the Cajuns rallied for a 10-5 victory.

On Friday, he walked Cal-Davis leadoff hitter Ryan Royster on four pitches, and head coach Tony Robichaux made an immediate trip to the mound.

"I can't repeat exactly what I said," Robichaux commented after the game, "but I told him just to trust his stuff. He started doing that, and he threw really well. He probably could have come out and finished them off."

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Glass (1-0) retired eight in a row at one point midway through the game and retired 11 of the last 14 Aggies he faced before Thad Montgomery came on to pitch the ninth inning. However, Lukas Kirby and Dan Baldini welcomed Montgomery with hits and pinch hitter David Treat reached on shortstop Jameson Parker's error.

However, pinch hitter Kerry Jones lined into a double play, and after Michael Jadobellis' RBI single Royster filed out to end the final threat.

The Cajuns pushed across four runs on only one hit - that one a bunt single by Justin Merendino - in the fifth inning after taking a 2-0 lead in the second. UL's six runs came in innings when the squad totaled only three hits.

"We wanted to force them to make plays," Robichaux said. "Fly balls are outs in this park, and we were facing a non-traditional pitcher, a soft thrower who sat on off-speed stuff. We needed to get the running game and the bunt game going."

Justin Merendino led off the fifth with that bunt single off Aggie loser Michael Potter (1-2), and after a walk to Phillip Hawke a bunt by John McCarthy was thrown away by Cal-Davis third baseman Daniel Descalso to score Merendino.

Dallas Morris' sacrifice fly scored Hawke, and McCarthy and Jonathan Lucroy both scored on wild pitches by Potter and reliever Nik Aurora.

LAGNIAPPE: Wichita State met Hawaii in Friday's late game ... Sacramento State beat South Florida 6-4 in Friday's opener. Along with UL's 4-0 tournament record, WSU is 2-1 pending Friday's late game, Sacramento State is 2-2, Hawai'i is 1-2 and South Florida and Cal-Davis are 1-3 ... Sacramento State meets Cal-Davis at 2:30 p.m. and Wichita State meets South Florida at 6:30 p.m. in today's other tournament wrapup games
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