Hattiesburg - The Ragin’ Cajuns baseball team did not start their 2009 road schedule the way they would have hoped, losing 10-1 to Southern Miss on Friday in Hattiesburg, Miss., helping the Golden Eagles extend their winning streak to six and dropping UL to 1-4-1 on the season.
Junior Zach Osborne made his second start with six innings, allowing eight runs, all earned, on 10 hits, two walks and three strikeouts. He took the loss, his first decision of the season. The Eagles tagged him for one double and two home runs.
Senior southpaw Blake Haagen threw two innings, allowing one hit, two runs, both earned, on three walks and a strikeout.
Offensively, Alex Fuselier earned the only RBI for the Cajuns in the eighth inning. He finished 2-for-4 from the plate, joined by Les Smith with that statistic. Chad Keefer and Greg Fontenot each managed a double, and Kyle Bostick’s five-game hitting streak came to an 0-for-4 end, while Fontenot extended his own streak to five. Travis Whipple and Les Smith are now on four-game streaks, Whipple going 1-for-3 at the dish.
Defensively, the Cajuns played their first error-free game this season, after committing at least one and as many as three in five previous games.
Southern Miss center fielder Bo Davis wasted no time getting the Golden Eagles on the scoreboard slamming his second leadoff home run of the season to put Southern Miss up 1-0 after one inning.
Davis returned to bat in the second inning with loaded bases and two outs, and earned another RBI, but this time it was a weak bloop just past the pitcher’s mound. No one got to it and Davis reached while the third base runner scored. That would kick off a seven-run rally, all with two outs.
In the next at bat, Kameron Brunty ripped one to left center to clear the bases for three runs. A bloop single to short center field plated Brunty from second for the 6-0 advantage before Osborne gave up a two-run home run to Corey Stevens, giving the Golden Eagles an 8-0 lead heading to the third inning. Osborne was tagged for seven runs, all earned, on six hits in the second.
Osborne retired the side in the bottom of the third, escaping for the first time in the game without allowing a run. He locked down and went on to allow just three more hits through four innings of play before being relieved by Blake Haagen to start the bottom of the seventh. Haagen retired the side.
The Cajuns finally erased the shutout in the eighth inning, when Greg Fontenot sliced a double to left field with two outs, and came around to score on an Alex Fuselier single to right.
Haagen returned for the Eagles’ eighth but went cold from the mound, allowing two runs to score, both earned, on one hit and three walks.
The series continues Saturday with a 2 p.m. matchup. Steve Peloquin has the call on ESPN 1420 AM, and live statistics will be available from Southern Miss, accessible through the baseball schedule page on RaginCajuns.com.
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Ragin' Cajuns Falter In First Road Game
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