LOUISIANA – The resurgent Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns relied on small ball in the early going, but used a momentum-changing three-run home run by Nolan Gisclair (Marrero, La.) to defeat the third-seeded Troy Trojans 6-1 Wednesday night at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field.

Wednesday's nightcap crowd of 3,119 fans was the largest attendance at "The Tigue" this season and the largest since Feb. 11, 2005 against Louisiana Tech (3,121). It was also the largest crowd for a Sun Belt baseball tournament game since going to the eight-team format in 1999.

In what could quite possibly be his final home game on the mound as a Cajun, senior Hunter Moody (Clinton, La.) tossed his first complete game of the season en route to the victory. Moody (9-2) moved into third on the Sun Belt career victories list with his 31st win on the hill. The crafty lefty allowed one run on seven hits with six strikeouts, while not issuing a walk.

Scott Hawkins (Collierville, Tenn.) went 4-for-5 with three RBI singles – his four hits tied a career high. Gisclair finished 2-for-4 with a mammoth three-run blast with Josh Logan (Magee, Miss.) and Tyler Benzel (Groveland, Fla.) also tallying two hits.

Troy's Jeff Green (2-6) was tagged for two runs on seven hits through five innings. Tim Wheeler, who was originally slated to start Wednesday, surrendered Gisclair's three-run home run.

Sixth-seeded Louisiana (29-27) became the final of three lower-seeded teams win a first round game of the tournament Wednesday.

Hawkins single-handedly put the host institution up 2-0 after three innings. In the first, Benzel kept the Cajuns alive when he reached on a two-out, two-base throwing error by Troy shortstop Adam Bryant. Thanks to the extra out, Hawkins drilled a RBI single down the left field line for a 1-0 Cajuns lead.

Two innings later, Hawkins delivered yet another two-out RBI single – this time a run-producing hit up the middle – for a 2-0 lead.

Trevor Tyre's infield RBI single in the sixth pulled the Trojans to within one, 2-1. With the Trojans threatening to tie or take the lead, Beau Brooks grounded out into an unconventional 3-6-1 double play to end the rally and preserve the one-run lead.

Louisiana put the game out of reach with a three-run seventh inning. Benzel and Hawkins each rattled off one-out singles to give the Cajuns a pair of base-runners. A wild pitch by Tim Wheeler advanced runners to second and third with Gisclair walking up to the plate.

Behind a full-count, Gisclair pulled an arching three-run home run to left field for a 5-1 Cajuns lead. The Cajuns added an insurance run in the eighth on Hawkins' career-high-tying fourth hit which scored Matt Goulas (New Iberia, La.) for a 6-1 Louisiana lead.

With the win, the sixth-seeded Cajuns advance to face the seventh-seeded South Alabama Jaguars (32-24) Thursday at 4 p.m. Live stats and streaming video will be available at SunBeltSports.org.


RaginCajuns.com

Chris Yandle