Oh What a Relief. Ragin' Cajuns Claim Siena Series
Though the season is still young it's becoming apparent that the bullpen is going to be a mighty weapon for Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns baseball team in 2011.
A combined strong relief effort from Randall Bulliard and Ryland Parker locked up a 5-4 victory for Louisiana in game two of a weekend series with Siena Saturday afternoon at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field.
Bulliard and Parker combined for 4 2/3 innings of work and allowed only one run while scattering five hits as the Cajuns (4-3) picked up the series victory.
Those efforts protected a Cajuns lead which was provided by a bases loaded clearing double from Greg Fontenot in the third inning.
The UL bullpen has now worked 34 innings this season and allowed only six runs and 20 base hits.
Louisiana and Siena (0-5) will wrap up the three-game series on Sunday at 11 a.m. The game will be televised by MyKLAF.
Parker, who earned the save, worked out of a runner on third and one out jam in the eighth inning. He would get Siena's Adam Guinn to pop out to shallow right field then struck out leadoff hitter John Rooney looking for the third out.
In the ninth, Parker induced two quick groundouts then following a single by Kevin Quaranto got a groundball off the bat of pinch hitter Ken Kirshner to seal the victory.
Louisiana pitching was able to strand 10 Siena baserunners which offset the fact that the club was out-hit 12-3 by the Saints.
Siena took an early lead when Dan Paolini drove a home run over the left field wall in the first inning off of Cajuns starter T.J. Geith.
UL jumped on the scoreboard in the second inning benefiting from a two-base throwing error by Siena shortstop Vincent Citro. The error allowed Fontenot to reach base and he eventually scored on a Jordan Bourque fielder's choice grounder.
The Cajuns broke a 1-all tie in the third inning taking advantage of Justin Brantley's struggles to locate the strike zone and have any sort of command of his pitches.
Back-to-back walks to start the inning put Alex Fuselier and Jordan Poirrier on base for UL. The Cajuns loaded the bases when Tyler Frederick reached base following an errant throw by Andrew Sawyer on a sacrifice bunt attempt.
Fontenot gave Louisiana the lead when he cleared the bases with a double into the right field corner.
Lance Marvel added a sacrifice fly to score Fontenot, with a run that would come into play later, and extend the Cajuns lead to 5-1.
Siena cut the Cajuns lead in half in the fifth inning picking up a pair of runs on a Quaranto RBI single which ended the day for Geith.
Bulliard relieved Geith and induced a double play ball off the bat of Balkwill to halt the Saints' rally.
Siena would scratch an additional run in the seventh inning. The inning began with three straight singles the latter a Paolini shot through the left side which scored Rooney. Bulliard forced another double play and a fly out to left field to preserve the lead.
BASES NOTED: The Cajuns now 7-0 all-time against Siena, all meetings coming in the Tony Robichaux Era.All four games the Cajuns have played this week have been decided by one run.The Cajuns are 3-1 in one-run games.After starting the season with back-to-back losses to Southeast Missouri, the Cajuns have now won four straight games at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field.Michael Strentz posted a caught stealing of Kevin Quaranto in the third inning, the fifth baserunner caught stealing by Cajuns catchers this season.Greg Fontenot's bases-clearing double in the third inning marked his second multiple-RBI game of the season and 19th of his career.The double was Fontenot's team-leading fourth of the season, upping his career total to 24.Dating back to April 6 at Northwestern State last season, UL pitching has now held the opposition to single digit runs in 39 consecutive games.Louisiana has held the opposition to five runs or less in 50 of the past 67 games, dating back to the start of the 2010 season.Through 24 chances this season third baseman Jordan Bourque has yet to commit an error at the "hot corner".
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