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NATCHITOCHES, La. – Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns bullpen surrendered four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning which allowed Northwestern State to rally for a 7-5 victory Wednesday evening at Brown-Stroud Field.
Randall Bulliard relieved starter Michael Cook and UL holding on a 5-3 edge. Bulliard gave up back-to-back singles and then hit Joe Urtuzuastegui to load the bases with no outs. Beau Snodgrass then doubled to right center field to score two runs and redeem himself for a mental mistake he made in the sixth inning.
Corey Chapman relieved Bulliard, but NSU’s Lance Lacoste broke the 5-all tie with a double to right center field.
NSU reliever Chad Sheppard pitched a scoreless ninth to preserve the comeback win for the Demons (18-22) which allowed the hosts to split the season series with Louisiana (21-22-1).
Louisiana appeared to be headed for the victory after breaking a 3-all tie in the sixth inning when Northwestern State right fielder Beau Snodgrass lost a high fly ball in the lights.
The fly ball came off the bat of Tyler Benzel which scored Chad Keefer, who singled with one out and moved to second on a Will Long walk. An RBI ground out by Jon Masch scored Long to move UL’s lead to 5-3.
Cook pitched seven strong innings for the Cajuns. He tossed seven innings and held the Demons to three runs on six hits. He limited NSU to only one run and three hits over his final six innings of action.
Louisiana cracked the scoreboard in the first inning. Three straight one-out singles loaded the bases. A wild pitch from NSU starter Brett Fredieu scored Matt Goulas. Keefer then lifted a sacrifice fly to deep right center to score Travis Whipple for a 2-0 lead.
NSU pulled even in their first at bat. Back-to-back, one-out doubles from Chase Lyles and Justin O’Neal pushed across a run and a two-out RBI single from Snodgrass scored O’Neal to tie the game.
UL took advantage of a passed ball to score Masch on an infield single and go in front 3-2 in the second.
Cook and Fredieu began to settle in and the bats cooled off as a combined 13 consecutive batters were retired after Masch scored.
The Demons broke the hitters’ silence with a leadoff double from UrtuzuastegUniversity of Louisianan the fourth. Two at bats later he would score on a sacrifice fly from Lacoste and NSU evened the score again.
The Ragin’ Cajuns remain on the road this weekend as they travel to Greenville, N.C., for a non-conference series with East Carolina. The Cajuns and Pirates will do battle Friday-Saturday, May 1-3 at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium. It’s the first time UL and ECU meet in the regular season.
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