UL - It took 40 hours to complete one game of this weekend’s Sun Belt Conference series between FAU and Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns, and then only two of three could be completed. The Cajuns fell by scores of 6-5 and 8-3 Sunday, dropping to 6-9-1 overall and 1-4 in Sun Belt action, while FAU is now 12-3 and 3-2 respectively.
The Cajuns posted a combined 13 hits in the two games, which were difficult just to complete.
Friday night, constant rain forced the postponement of the series opener to Saturday, setting up a Saturday doubleheader. But after two rain delays and the prospect of playing well into the early hours of Sunday morning, both teams packed it in to complete Game 1 on Sunday morning, despite being just three outs short of finishing.
The decision to delay ended up a wise one, the Cajuns tying the game at five to send it to extra innings Sunday morning when the game resumed at 8:57 a.m. The rally was short lived, as FAU grabbed a run off of losing pitcher Gregory Harmon (0-1, 3.72) and the Cajuns’ could not respond. Zach Osborne started, going just 1 2/3 innings and allowing five hits, four runs, all earned, on one walk and one strikeout. He was relieved by Blake Haagen who effectively shut down FAU for 7 1/3 innings with the exception of one earned run, allowing six hits and two walks with four strikeouts.
All told, the game took only three hours and 23 minutes of playing time to complete, though that spanned nearly 40 hours of real time, beginning Friday evening at the originally schedule game time of 6:30 p.m.
Michael Cook (2-2, 6.75) was saddled with the loss in Game 2 after just 2 1/3 innings, allowing eight hits, five runs, four earned, while neither walking nor striking out anyone. Blake Wascom threw 5 1/3 innings of relief, allowing three runs, all earned, on five hits, three walks and five strikeouts. Greg Wilborn allowed two hits and struck out two in the final 1 2/3 innings.
Greg Fontenot led the Cajuns’ offensively, going 4-for-8 on the weekend including a 3-for-5 outing in Game 2, owner of one of just three Cajuns’ extra-base hits for the series. Thad Griffen delivered both the others on a double and a home run. He finished with a series-high three RBIs, two coming on a first inning single in Game 2.
The only other Cajun to finish the weekend with more than one hit was Kyle Bostick, who went 2-for-7 with one RBI.
The Ragin’ Cajuns travel to McNeese State on Tuesday night for a 6:30 p.m. matchup, then take two days off before hosting UALR for the third weekend Sun Belt series of the year.