LOUISIANA La. - Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns baseball team improved to 13-3 and remained perfect in the Sun Belt Conference (2-0) with a 9-6 win on Saturday afternoon over South Alabama at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field.
Hitting was the theme of the day for the two teams. The two teams combined for 24 hits on the afternoon with the Cajuns edging the Jaguars 13-11 in hits. Of the 24 hits in the game 10 were extra base hits, with the two teams combining for six homeruns.
Nolan Gisclair, Jonathan Lucroy and Jefferies Tatford all had homeruns in the game for the Ragin’ Cajuns.
Gisclair became the first Cajuns player this season to hit two homeruns in a game. Gisclair finished the game 2-for-5 with two homeruns, two runs scored and two RBI.
Scott Hawkins and Tim Santiago both had multiple hits in game. Hawkins finished the game 2-for-5 with a double and two runs scored, while Santiago was 3-for-4 with an RBI.
Matt Pilgreen picked up his first win of the season. The senior hurler entered the game in relief and tossed 2.1 scoreless innings, retiring all eight batters he faced.
Starter John Zorich got the no-decision for the Cajuns. Zorich worked 6.2 innings, scattering 11 hits. He surrendered six runs – five earned runs.
After trailing 2-0 after the first half inning of play, the Cajuns took the lead in the bottom of the third inning, 3-2. The Cajuns would hold on to the lead until the seventh inning when back-to-back homeruns by the Jaguars tied the game at 6-6. UL used a three-run seventh inning to regain the lead that they would not relinquish.
In the first inning, South Alabama got things going by loading the bases with three consecutive singles. A pair of sacrifice flies plated two runners and saw the Cajuns trailing 2-0 after a half an inning of play.
The Cajuns cut into the lead in the bottom of the first inning. With one out, Gisclair hit a solo homerun to left field to cut the USA advantage to just one run. The homerun was Gisclair’s second of the season and first since Feb. 18 against Texas-San Antonio.
In the bottom of the second inning, the Ragin’ Cajuns got a two-out single from Santiago. The Cajuns thought they got a two-run homer from Justin Robichaux, but the South Alabama right fielder Billy Kleinschrodt made a leaping catch about a foot over the fence to end the inning.
The Ragin’ Cajuns took the lead in the bottom of the third inning. With one out, Xavier Alexander, who extended his team-leading hitting streak to 15 games with a single in the eighth inning, drew a base on balls. After a fly ball to centerfield, Lucroy hit his second homerun of the season to give the Cajuns a 3-2 lead. The homerun was hit one of the pine trees behind the left field wall about half way up the tree.
A one-out double by Kolin Hatfield gave the Cajuns a runner in scoring position in the bottom of the fourth inning. A Santiago single up the middle plated Hatfield and gave the Cajuns a 4-2 advantage.
In the top of the fifth inning, the Jaguars led off the inning with a single – the fourth inning of the game that USA led off with a hit. With one on and no outs, the Cajuns used a foul out, a fielder’s choice to record the first two outs. The Jaguars lifted a ball to deep right field, but Hatfield recorded the fly ball out against the outfield wall.
The Cajuns used a two out single from Hawkins in the bottom of the fifth to get a runner on base. Tatford hit a homerun to right field to increase the Cajuns lead to 6-2.
In the sixth inning, the Jaguars used a two run inning to cut into the UL lead. A double to centerfield led of the inning for USA. A fielding error by the Cajuns gave the Jaguars runners on the corners. A single scored the first run of the inning. The Jaguars would use a fielder’s choice to score the second run of the inning and cut the lead to 6-4.
After retiring the first two batters to start the inning, the Jaguars used back-to-back homeruns in the top of the seventh inning to knot the score at 6-6. The two homeruns was the first time all season the Cajuns allowed multiple homeruns in the same game.
The Ragin’ Cajuns responded in the bottom of the seventh inning. Gisclair led off the inning with his second homerun of the game, a solo shot to left centerfield. Gisclair became the first Cajuns’ player this season to hit multiple homeruns in a game. After a pitching change, the Jaguars struck out the next Cajuns batter, but UL got a double to left centerfield by Hawkins. Tatford was intentionally walked to try to set up the double play. A fielding error by South Alabama loaded the bases for the Cajuns. A pop up gave the Cajuns three on with two outs. Robichaux, who was robbed of a homerun earlier in the game, singled up the middle to plate a pair of runners give the Cajuns a 9-6 lead.
The runs would prove to make the final difference in the game as the Cajuns hung on to the three-run victory.
The Cajuns and Jaguars will conclude the three-game conference series on Sunday afternoon at 1:05 p.m.
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Re: Baseball Scheduling (split)
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Re: Baseball Scheduling (split)
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