Arlington, Texas - In a four hour and forty-four-minute, 15 inning game, Louisiana Baseball powered its way to victory over UTA on Friday night, winning 4-3 at Clay Gould Ballpark.
This is the first 15-inning game Louisiana has played since February 20, 2017, against Southeastern Louisiana.
Josh Cofield's sacrifice fly to left field in the 15th inning proved to be the game winner for Louisiana.
Louisiana's bullpen was electric all night, spinning seven innings of one-run baseball. Chipper Menard led the way for Louisiana (27-20, 10-9 SBC) in bullpen relief, tossing 2.2 scoreless frames.
Blake Marshall came up in a big spot, retiring a lefty batter and earning his first win of the season. Dane Dixon closed the door for the Ragin' Cajuns in the bottom of the 15th inning.
Louisiana's first four hitters, Drake Osborn, Ben Fitzgerald, Brennan Breaux and Connor Kimple, all gathered two hits on the night. Tyler Robertson posted four walks on Friday, becoming the first Ragin' Cajun to do that since Daniel Lahare on Mary 23, 2018 against Little Rock.
Spencer Arrighetti had it working, throwing into the eighth inning and only allowing two earned runs. This is Arrighetti's fourth start where he has thrown 7.0 innings or more.
UTA (23-26, 11-8 SBC) got to Arrighetti in the first inning, scoring a run with two outs on the single from Andrew Miller. The Mavericks left the first inning with the bases loaded.
Following the first, Arrighetti was sharp, surrendering zero runs through the next five innings.
Carlos Tavera, UTA's starting pitcher and conference strikeout leader, spun four scoreless innings before the Ragin' Cajuns tacked on two runs in the fifth.
The runs in the top of the fifth were manufactured from a Bobby Lada double. Osborn later doubled off the wall in centerfield and scored Lada. Fitzgerald used an RBI-single up-the-middle to score Osborn and give Louisiana the 2-1 lead.
Following the fifth, Arrighetti locked in even more, retiring the next six of seven batters.
Arrighetti exited the game in the bottom of the eighth after giving up a single. Brandon Talley then entered and UTA hit a two-run home run to tie the game at 3-3.
UTA had some momentum in the bottom of the ninth inning after drawing a leadoff walk, Jacob Schultz pitched a 4-3 double play to end the inning.
Jeff Wilson also did a great job retiring three batters on strikes 1.2 innings pitched.
It all came down to the 15th inning, when Cofield's sac fly scored Saturday's starting pitcher and pinch-runner, Connor Cooke, to give the Ragin' Cajuns the win.
Louisiana and UTA will play a doubleheader on Saturday with first pitch at 2 p.m.