MOBILE, Ala. – Eight of Louisiana’s nine batters registered a hit, while six more drove in at least one run as the Ragin’ Cajuns pummeled the South Alabama Jaguars 9-3 Friday night in the series opener at Stanky Field.

Louisiana (19-18, 9-10 Sun Belt) bettered its record to above .500 while winning its seventh straight series meeting with South Alabama (21-17, 8-8 Sun Belt).

Louisiana senior Hunter Moody (Clinton, La.), although allowing three South Alabama home runs, tossed eight effective innings to earn his sixth victory this season. Despite his defense committing five errors, Moody (6-2) allowed three runs on eight hits with five strikeouts while forcing South Alabama to strand nine runners. Moody gave up a hit in seven of his eight innings.

South Alabama’s Eric Gonzalez (5-4) was rocked for six runs – five earned – on eight hits with a game-high eight strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings.

Four different Ragin’ Cajuns recorded two hits – Nolan Gisclair (Marrero, La.), Scott Hawkins (Collierville, Tenn.), Chance Harst (Lafayette, La.) and Jordan Poirrier (Reserve, La.). Matt Hicks (Houston, Texas) added a three-run bomb in the sixth. Two of the Cajuns’ five errors were catcher’s interference calls charged to Blaine LaFleur (Opelousas, La.).

Sean Laird paced South Alabama with three hits in five at bats while belting a solo home run.

Heady base-running in the second inning led to the Ragin’ Cajuns taking a 1-0 lead. Harst drilled a single back up the middle for the Cajuns’ first hit of the night. Three batters later, Poirrier delivered one-out single through the right side to advance Harst to third. Then, a successful double steal gave the Cajuns a 1-0 lead when Harst dented the plate.

South Alabama threatened in the second after back-to-back two-out errors by Hicks and William Long (Valrico, Fla.). However, Moody struck out Jake Overstreet to quiet the Jaguars threat to hold the one-run lead.

Louisiana’s one-run lead vanished in the fourth when Sean Laird crushed Moody’s 0-1 offering over the wall in left-center to tie the game at 1-1. In the fifth, Overstreet sent Moody’s first pitch to right-center for the Jaguars’ first lead, 2-1.

The Cajuns quickly erased South Alabama’s lead as Louisiana exploded for five runs in the sixth inning for a 6-2 lead. Josh Logan (Magee, Miss.) led off with a single through the right side before scoring the tying run on a Gisclair RBI double to left-center.

Hawkins followed with a single to center that put runners on the corners with one out. Two batters later, a fielding error by USA shortstop Derek O’Reilly allowed Gisclair to score the go-ahead run, 3-2. Hicks then cleared the bases with a mammoth three-run home run over the scoreboard in left field for a 6-2 Cajuns lead.

South Alabama tagged Moody for his career-high-tying third home run in the game on Ryne Jernigan’s solo shot to left in the bottom of the sixth. The Jaguars later loaded the bases with one out but Moody retired the final two batters to preserve the 6-3 lead.

In the seventh, Poirrier made arguably the game-saving catch to keep the Jaguars from scratching the scoreboard. With one on, David Doss ripped a ball that seemed like a would-be RBI hit, but Poirrier robbed him with a diving catch to his right for the first out.

Poirrier delivered the Cajuns’ insurance run in the eighth on a RBI single to center field scoring Matt Goulas (New Iberia, La.) for a 7-3 lead.

Back-to-back two-out RBI doubles by Hawkins and Harst led to a 9-3 Cajuns lead in the ninth. Buddy Glass (Clermont, Fla.) closed the door on the Jaguars in the bottom of the ninth to seal the six-run win.

Louisiana continues its three-game Sun Belt series Saturday with game two against the South Alabama Jaguars beginning at 2 p.m.


RaginCajuns.com

Chris Yandle