Louisiana Wins in Dramatic Fashion
Cajuns’ Core blasts two-run homer in ninth to lift Cajuns. South Louisiana PublishingLAFAYETTE — It was the at-bat Ryan Core had been waiting for all his life.
The junior catcher capped a stirring comeback for Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajun baseball team with a two-out, two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning Wednesday night, giving the Cajuns a 9-8 win over Tulane’s Green Wave.
“This felt great,” said Core, whose hit capped a three-run ninth inning and gave the Cajuns (8-20) a win after they trailed the Green Wave 4-0 through four innings. “I had a game-winning home run once in high school, but it didn’t feel as good as this.”
The Cajuns came within a couple of feet of recording three home runs in that bottom of the ninth off Tulane ace closer Joey Charron (2-3), but Wave right fielder Brian Bogusevic made an over-the-wall catch on Corey Coles’ towering fly ball that opened the ninth.
That looked to take the final breath of air out of the Cajuns’ sails, but Phillip Hawke’s double off the wall in right-center field scored Brad Saloom with two outs to make it an 8-7 game and bring Core to the plate.
“I pulled off the change-up on the first pitch,” said the Delgado product. “Any smart pitcher or catcher’s going to come right back with that, and I choked up and and stayed back on it.”
Core’s blast, the third of his career, brought delirium from a Cajun dugout that had seen its share of rallies come up short through the first half of the season.
“They really needed this,” said head coach Tony Robichaux. “We’ve had a lot of things happen to us that’s created a lack of focus. We still made some mistakes, but this was huge for us to get one like this.”
Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com
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