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LAKE CHARLES, La. – Matt Broussard retired 17 of the first 19 batters he faced and Louisiana took advantage of McNeese State miscues all game long en route to a 10-2 victory Tuesday evening at Cowboy Diamond.
The victory extended Louisiana’s non-conference win streak to five games and improved the Cajuns (7-9-1) to 4-1 in mid-week contests.
Broussard, making his first start on the mound this season, turned in a gem. He tossed a one-hit shutout over seven innings and faced only four batters over the minimum. He needed only 60 pitches to get through the first five innings and ended the game with 95 total pitches.
Kyle Olasin, who began the game with no extra base hits, belted two home runs and a triple and led UL with three RBI.
Matt Goulas saw his first action of the season for the Cajuns, starting in the designated hitter slot. Justin Robichaux came in relief of Broussard in the eighth inning for his first appearance since March 1 at Southern Miss.
The first two innings moved quickly as Broussard and McNeese starting pitcher Matt Click combined to retire the first 11 batters. McNeese (9-8) ended the string when Nick Eubanks singled to shallow center field with two outs in the second.
Goulas ended Click’s string of eight consecutive retired when he shoved a single through the left side with two outs in the top of the third.
Olasin led off the fourth inning with his first extra base hit of the season, a home run to right field which put UL up 1-0. A hit batsman in the next at bat and a couple of McNeese errors helped the Cajuns plate two more runs.
Those errors kept the inning alive by the time Goulas’ second at bat came up. He ripped a double to the warning track in left field to score Chad Keefer, who reached on the Cowboys’ second error, with the fourth run of the inning.
McNeese’s first threat came in the bottom of the sixth inning when back-to-back, two-out walks by Broussard put two Cowboys on the basepaths. Broussard struck out cleanup hitter Taylor Freeman to end the inning.
A two-out error by McNeese second baseman Alex Johnson in the top of the seventh opened the flood gates and allowed Louisiana to extend its lead. Following the error, Olasin recorded his second home run of the contest lofting one off the wall down the right field line for an inside-the-park home run to stretch the lead to 6-0.
The Cajuns scored the runs off of Cowboys reliever Michael Robbins who entered the game to face UL’s three lefties at the top of the lineup. He didn’t record an out, and after Travis Whipple doubled down the left field line he was replaced by Tommy Luce who recorded the final out with one pitch.
McNeese took advantage of control problems by Robichaux in their half of the eighth. Two walks and single loaded the bases for the Cowboys. Robichaux induced a double play off the bat of Steven Irvine and a run scored. MSU dropped the UL lead to 8-2 when Josh Lebert scored on a wild pitch.
An RBI double by Whipple and a Keefer sacrifice fly in the ninth inning capped off the scoring for the Ragin’ Cajuns.
Click took the hard-luck loss for the Cowboys. He surrendered only one earned run over 6 2/3 innings and struck out six Cajuns batters.
Louisiana returns to Sun Belt Conference play this weekend at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field. The Ragin’ Cajuns host UALR for a three-game set Friday-Sunday, March 20-22. The series starts Friday with first pitch set for 6:30 p.m. Fans can catch all the action on SportsRadio ESPN 1420-AM on Friday night and on 105.1 KPEL for Saturday and Sunday’s games, while tracking live statistics and viewing live video on RaginCajuns.com. Saturday and Sunday’s games will also be televised locally on MyKLAF-TV.
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