Cajuns go back to basics to defeat Green Wave
06/01/02
By Fred Robinson
Staff writer/The Times-Picayune
BATON ROUGE -- Louisiana, doing whatever it needed to score runs Friday night, knocked Tulane into the losers bracket of the NCAA regional with a 6-3 win over the Green Wave at Alex Box Stadium.
While Tulane was using the long ball to stay in the game early, the Ragin' Cajuns were manufacturing runs with singles and stolen bases and moving runners into scoring position with bunts. They kept the pressure on the Wave by executing the basics.
"That's the way they play the game, and they do a good job at it," Wave coach Rick Jones said. "We just came up short. We swung the bats well enough to win, we played defense well enough to win. We just had those in-between balls."
The Cajuns (38-21) had 13 hits, 11 off Tulane starter Nick Bourgeois (10-3). Four of ULL's hits were bunt singles. A bunt or a stolen base played a part in ULL's first four runs.
Bourgeois left after giving up a leadoff single to Brad Saloom in the eighth. He allowed five runs, four earned.
Tulane's offense consisted of two home runs, a solo shot by shortstop Tommy Manzella and a two-run blast by Bryan Stelmack. Other than that, only three Tulane runners reached second base, and one, Anthony Giarratano, was picked off.
The Green Wave (35-26) meets Southern (45-9) at 11 a.m. today. Southern lost to LSU 5-4 in the day's first game.
The Wave scored its runs in the first four innings off ULL's Justin Gabriel, then he buckled down and held the Wave scoreless the rest of the way. Tulane's No. 1 through No. 4 hitters were 1-for-16 against Gabriel (10-4).
"We just couldn't get anything to fall against their ace," Jones said.
Gabriel, who had one strikeout, gave the Cajuns exactly what they were looking for.
"We were playing a good ballclub, and we needed Gabriel to step up and pitch big," ULL coach Tony Robichaux said. "Gabe gave us an opportunity where we didn't have to score a lot of runs."
The victory was ULL's third this season against Tulane.
The Cajuns ended their scoring in the eighth with a pair of runs, the last of which scored on one of the Wave's three errors.
ULL got a homer from Dallas Morris in the third, then took the lead for good in the fifth on four consecutive singles. Justin Bourque's leadoff single was followed by a bunt single by Jason Wilson, the Cajuns' second of the game.
But with no outs, the Cajuns nearly ran themselves out of the inning. Corey Coles' bouncer to the right side of second base hit Wilson. The interference kept the runners from advancing, and Bourque was later thrown out trying to steal third. But with two outs, Saloom singled to right to drive home Coles.
Tulane tied the score at 1 in the second on Manzella's homer and at 3 in the third on Stelmack's homer to left.
First baseman James Jurries started the fourth inning with a single to left. A balk by Gabriel and a groundout to second by Michael Aubrey advanced Jurries to third. With two outs, Stelmack hit a 2-0 pitch from Gabriel off the light pole in left field for a two-run homer.
Stelmack, Giarratano, Turner Brumby and Manzella had eight of the Wave's nine hits.