Louisiana vs New Mexico State

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Cajuns travel to potent Aggies

LAS CRUCES, N.M. — The two hottest baseball teams in the Sun Belt Conference square off here this weekend.

And who would have thought a couple of weeks ago that Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns would be mentioned in a statement like that?

It’s true. The Cajuns and New Mexico State have each won four of their last five games, and they’re only one game apart in the conference standings heading into tonight’s 8 p.m. (CST) opener of their three-game series.

Louisiana (11-21, 3-3) is coming off its first league series win of the young season, taking two of three from Middle Tennessee, and sandwiched those games between wins over Tulane and Lamar.

The high-scoring Aggies (25-7, 4-2) have taken two-of-three in their first two league series, at Middle Tennessee and at home against Arkansas-Little Rock, and are one game behind surprising Arkansas State (5-1) in this week’s Sun Belt standings.

The Aggies are hitting a league-leading .342 and have scored 345 runs in 32 games, nearly 11 runs pr outing. NMSU has the league’s two top hitters in first baseman Billy Becher (.463), this week’s Sun Belt Hitter of the Week, and second baseman Brad Ditter (.450).

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[Sanchez]

What was the final score? Last I hear the Cajuns were up 10-1

[RaginRash]

10-4 Cajuns!

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LAS CRUCES, N.M. - Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns baseball team defeated New Mexico State 10-4 here at Presley Askew Field in game one of this weekend’s three game Sun Belt series. Louisiana (12-21) improves to 4-3 in the Sun Belt conference race, just one game out of first place.

Louisiana sophomore right-hander Kevin Ardoin made his fourth start of the year against New Mexico State senior right-hander Jason Williams.

Louisiana opened the scoring against Williams in the top of the second inning with a big four run inning. The Cajuns scored three runs on consecutive RBI singles by Ray Dees, Jason Wilson, and Bryan Sneed. Corey Coles drove in the fourth run of the inning on a fielder’s choice ground ball to the Aggie second baseman.

The Ragin’ Cajuns added three more runs in the third inning to take a commanding 7-0 lead. Cajun sophomore shortstop Ray Dees hit his first career homerun with 3-run shot over the left center field wall to extend the lead to seven runs.

New Mexico State picked up one run in the third inning on a solo-shot to left field by center fielder Alex Borgo to cut the Cajun lead to six runs.

The Cajuns added three more runs, all with two outs in the sixth inning. Center fielder Jason Wilson reached first on a two out ground ball error by the Aggie shortstop to start the two-out rally. Left fielder Bryan Sneed plated Jason Wilson on single and Corey Coles drove in the final two runs with deep homerun over the right field wall. The homerun was the fourth of the year for Coles and it extended the Louisiana lead to 10-1. Aggie starter Jason Williams left the game after giving up a single and a walk following the homerun.

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LAS CRUCES, N.M. - Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns baseball team fell to New Mexico State by a score of 12-5 here at Presley Askew Field in game two of this weekend's three game Sun Belt series Saturday evening. Louisiana (12-22) drops to 4-4 in the Sun Belt, while New Mexico State (26-8) improves to 5-3 in the conference.

New Mexico State started right-hander Dustin Cameron, while the Cajuns countered with senior left-hander Andy Gros. Gros struggled early and left the game after giving up seven runs on six hits with three walks through just 1 2/3 innings.

New Mexico State took the early 3-0 lead on first baseman Billy Becher's 19th homerun of the season in the first inning. Becher hit the 3-run homer against Cajun starter Andy Gros with runners on first and second and one out in the inning.

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LAS CRUCES, NM - Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns baseball team falls to New Mexico State by a score of 8-7 here at Presley Askew Field in the final game of the three game series. Louisiana (12-23) loses two out of three and drops to 4-5 in the Sun Belt, while New Mexico State (27-8) improves to 6-3 in the conference. The Cajuns suffered the loss despite out hitting the Aggies 17-11.

Louisiana started right-hander Jordy Templet on the mound against Christian Jackson for New Mexico State. Templet (3-3) received a no decision after throwing 6 1/3 innings and allowing six runs (five earned) on eight Aggie hits.

The Cajuns scored first to take an early 1-0 lead. Louisiana designated hitter Rhett Buras doubled to lead off the second inning and moved over to third on a single by catcher Ryan Core. Buras scored the first run of the game when second baseman Brad Saloom grounded into a double play.

New Mexico State scored two runs against Templet in the third inning after loading the bases with one out. Aggie second baseman Brad Ditter drove in both runs on a single to center field to give New Mexico State a 2-1 lead.

Both teams swapped runs in the fifth inning to make it 3-2. Rhett Buras singled off Jackson to drive in Jason Wilson with the tying run for the Cajuns in the top half of the inning. New Mexico State first baseman Billy Becher drove in his fifth run of the series with a double to put the Aggies back on top.

New Mexico State catcher Mark Keller extended the Aggie lead to 5-3 in the bottom of the sixth inning with a two-run homerun off Templet.

Louisiana rallied for four runs in the seventh inning to take a 6-5 lead. Jason Wilson and Dallas Morris opened the inning off Jackson with consecutive singles before Corey Coles drove Wilson home with a double to right field. Jackson left the game following the double and was replaced by Mike Smith on the mound for New Mexico State. Brad Saloom singled to right field with one out in the inning to score two more Cajun runs. Right fielder Kevin Preau drove in the fourth run of the inning with a single to right field. Saloom advanced to third on Preau's single and scored an apparent fifth run after tagging up on a fly ball out to center field by Phillip Hawke. New Mexico State appealed the play and Saloom was called out after it was ruled by the umpire that he left the base early.
With one out in the bottom half of the seventh inning Templet was relieved by Austin Faught after walking Becher. Becher scored on a Cajun infield throwing error to tie the game 6-6.

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