Louisiana scored the game's first three runs, and then No. 17 Southeastern Louisiana scored nine unanswered runs and departed with a 9-4 victory Wednesday evening at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field.
Tied at 3-all and two outs in the top of the sixth inning, Joe Sparacino stole second base and scored the game-winning run for SLU when Justin Boudreaux placed an RBI single into right field.
The Lions (16-1) scratched for three more runs in the seventh to build a comfortable margin. Relief pitcher Stefan Lopez retired nine of the first 11 Cajuns hitters he faced to protect the lead.
The Ragin' Cajuns (10-7) completed their 10-game homestand with a 5-5 mark.
Louisiana returns to Sun Belt play this weekend in Mobile against South Alabama (13-7, 3-0 Sun Belt) at Eddie Stanky Field. The series will be held Friday-Sunday, March 19-21. The series opener is set for 6 p.m., on Friday.
Each hitter in the UL lineup posted at least one base hit. The Cajuns finished with 13 hits, marking the first loss of the season when the squad posted double digits in hits.
Alex Fuselier stretched his team-high and career-best hitting streak to 14 games. Chad Keefer saw his career-best hit streak increase to nine games.
Michael Cook was charged with the loss for the Cajuns, being held responsible for four earned runs in 5 2/3 innings. The Lions' winning run was registered after Cook was relieved by Randall Bulliard.
Jordan Hymel settled in after surrendering three runs on six hits in the first two innings and picked up the win for SLU. He scattered three hits over his final three innings.
The game marked the No. 999 all-time at "The Tigue". When Louisiana hosts Florida Atlantic on Friday, March 26 the game will represent No. 1,000 at the facility.
Back-to-back bunt singles from Kyle Olasin and Matt Goulas followed by a one-out single from Keefer loaded the bases for UL in the bottom of the first. A Fuselier sacrifice fly plated Olasin for a 1-0 lead.
In the second inning, an Olasin fielder's choice grounder scored Lance Marvel (leadoff single) then Goulas followed with a bloop double into left field that scored Olasin for a 3-0 lead.
A Boudreaux sacrifice bunt in the top of the third inning set up SLU with runners on second and third base. Back-to-back fielder's choice grounders resulted in a pair of runs for the Lions.
SLU pulled even in the fifth on a RBI single by Cody Gougler.
UL missed a golden opportunity in its half of the fifth. Olasin and Goulas began the inning with back-to-back hits - a double, then bunt single - and runners were on the corners with no outs. Hymel retired Jordan Poirrier, Keefer and Fuselier in succession to escape trouble.
(Courtesy of UL Athletics

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