Ragin' Cajuns Squander Road Sweep
<! Louisiana's Ragin' Cajun baseball team was set up for a road sweep, having rallied for two runs in the top of the ninth inning and taking an 8-6 lead here Sunday afternoon. ><blockquote><p align=justify>LAS CRUCES, N.M. - Louisiana's Ragin' Cajun baseball team was set up for a road sweep, having rallied for two runs in the top of the ninth inning and taking an 8-6 lead here Sunday afternoon.
But a bullpen that had been rock-solid during the last few weeks couldn't hold that edge, and Xardiel Cotto's two-out bloop single plated Mark Aranda with the winning run as New Mexico State took a 9-8 victory in the final game of the teams' Sun Belt Conference series at Presley Askew Field.
The Aggies (25-22, 10-8 Sun Belt) put three straight runners on base off Cajun reliever Micah Cockrell (4-4) to lead off the bottom of the ninth, and Luke Hopkins' single to left field tied the game.
Cockrell got a popup from Adam Harvey and relief pitcher Brandt Sanders forced Emory Davies to fly out, but a wild pitch and a walk to Brandon Lance loaded the bases. Cotto battled back from a 1-2 count to get it to 3-2 and fouled off two pitches before a sinking liner fell in front of UL right fielder John McCarthy for the game-winner.
"We let it get away from us," said Cajun coach Tony Robichaux. "We've got to be able to close games out when we have a two-run lead."
The Cajuns (41-11, 13-5 Sun Belt) had rallied from a 6-5 deficit on Alex Preciado's leadoff pinch-hit home run in the eighth inning, and UL reliever Thad Montgomery threw his third straight shutout inning in the bottom of the eighth to send the game to the ninth tied at six.
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Then, UL got back-to-back one-out doubles from Jonathan Lucroy and Dallas Morris, the last one lost by Aranda in the sun in right field that put runners at second and third. After an intentional walk to Cockrell, pinch hitter Jameson Parker narrowly beat out a double-play relay on a ground ball, with Lucroy scoring the go-ahead run.
Reliever Brian Gausman (3-4) then wild-pitched Morris home to give the visitors a two-run lead before recording a final out.
Cockrell relieved Montgomery and gave up a chop single up the middle to Vince Rodden, walked Robby Schildgen and hit Aranda to load the bases. Clean-up hitter Hopkins' single tied it, and three batters later Cotto's hit allowed the Aggies to salvage one win in the series.
UL had taken 21-8 and 14-4 wins Friday and Saturday and still holds a one-half game lead over South Alabama in the Sun Belt standings with two weekends to go.
Cajun starter Hunter Moody allowed three runs in four innings, a solo homer by Adam Harvey in the second and a two-run shot by Lance in the fourth as part of a three-run inning that gave NMSU a 4-2 lead. The Aggies added two more off Montgomery in the fifth on a walk, two bunts, an error and a bloop single before Montgomery retired 11 of the next 13 batters he faced.
"Hunter went right after them," Robichaux said. "The inning that Thad came in we just gave them too much. And at the end we just gave them a gift."
The Cajuns got an early run off NMSU starter Bryan Robinson on Josh Landry's first-inning solo home run. Justin Merendino had an RBI double that scored Cockrell in the second, and Landry's RBI single and Lucroy's sacrifice fly in the fifth tied the game at four before the Aggies took the 6-4 lead in the bottom of that inning.
"We've got three Sunday losses now," Robichaux said. "We have to find the secret to Sunday. I thought if we could have scored early we could have put them away. We were able to turn the game back around on them, but they turned it back around at the end."
LAGNIAPPE: The Cajuns had 51 hits in the three-game series compared to 35 for the Aggies ... Preciado's homer in the eighth was the second pinch-hit homer for the Cajuns this year. Lucroy had one against Marist in the Mardi Gras Ball tournament on Feb. 25 ... UL had a seven-game Sun Belt and overall road winning streak snapped with the loss ... The Cajuns open a four-game homestand Tuesday that will wrap up the home part of the regular season. UL hosts Southeastern La. Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at Moore Field on "Ticket Redemption" night, with all unused season tickets for any games this season good for admittance to the park ... No team swept a weekend series in Sun Belt play.
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Re: Ragin' Cajuns Squander Road Sweep
I didn't like this headline. <a href="http://www.dailyworld.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050509/SPORTS/505090317/1006">UL baseball drops third game to Aggies</a>
It read a little like UL got swept.
Perhaps I'm being picky.
Re: Ragin' Cajuns Squander Road Sweep
Cajuns fans know we took 2/3 that is all that matters.
Re: Ragin' Cajuns Squander Road Sweep
Quote:
Originally Posted by JMVCAJUNS
Cajuns fans know we took 2/3 that is all that matters.
True
