Justin Robichaux retired all nine batters he faced to secure Louisiana's 9-5 win over Troy Saturday evening at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field and give the Sun Belt series victory to the Ragin' Cajuns.
Clinging to an 8-5 advantage, and a runner on third with no outs in the seventh, Robichaux walked to the mound and promptly retired the three Trojans he faced to stave off the visitors final threat of the game.
With the win, Louisiana (17-14, 6-8 Sun Belt) collected its first Sun Belt series win of the 2010 season and first series win overall since taking 2-of-3 from Miami University the final weekend in February.
Robichaux earned his first save of the season and 12th of his career which ties Kraig Schambough's career mark.
The Ragin' Cajuns will go for the sweep on Sunday with the series finale scheduled for 1 p.m., at "The Tigue".
UL used a seven-spot in the bottom of the fourth to erase a 3-0 lead by the Trojans (16-14, 4-7 Sun Belt).
A Steven Felix solo home run and a run which scored on a passed ball helped Troy trim the UL lead to 7-5 in the sixth. Louisiana picked the run back up in their half of the sixth on an RBI triple by Kyle Olasin.
Robichaux made sure the lead never dipped below three runs again.
Tyler Frederick, Matt Goulas and Olasin each tallied two RBI. Greg Fontenot was 3-for-3 with two runs scored.
Joey Satriano relieved starter T.J. Geith in the fourth inning and wound up collecting his second victory of the season. Both Geith and Satriano surrendered only one earned run.
Cajuns pitching held Troy to 2-for-14 hitting with runners in scoring position and righties Satriano and Robichaux combined to hold the Trojans to a 4-for-20 showing.
Louisiana collected its fifth series win over Troy - in as many series - since the Trojans joined the SBC in 2006.
Chad Keefer was held hitless in three official at bats, bringing an end to his 22-game hitting streak which will stand as the second-longest streak in school history.
The Trojans ended the Cajuns streak of consecutive games scoring first at nine when they scored a pair of unearned runs in the top of the second inning.
Satriano entered in relief of Geith with runners on the corners and one out in the top of the fourth and induced a 5-4-3 double play to prevent Troy from extending the lead.
The Cajuns finally got to Tyler Ray in the bottom half of the fourth sending 11 batters to the plate and scoring seven runs to erase the deficit.
Alex Fuselier drew a bases loaded walk - the fourth consecutive Cajun to reach without benefit of a hit - to force home Goulas with the hosts first run of the night.
Frederick followed with a double into the right center field gap to create a 3-all tie. After Robichaux was hit by a pitch, Fontenot dumped a hit into shallow center to bring home Fuselier with the go-ahead run. Goulas capped off the barrage with a two-out double down the left field line.
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