Ardoin's pitching rules in easy win for Cajuns

Kevin Ardoin called Friday an "on" night, and he didn't get any argument from the LeMoyne Dolphins.

Ardoin turned in his first complete game of the season Friday, striking out a career-high 13 batters and scattering five hits as Louisiana's Ragin' Cajun baseball team coasted to an 8-1 victory over LeMoyne in the opening game of a three-game series at Moore Field.

Ardoin (5-0) gave up a lone fourth-inning run when Dolphin shortstop Michael Affronti laced a two-out double to left and scored on a pair of wild pitches.

Other than that, LeMoyne (2-7) had only two runners reach second base, and Ardoin fanned at least one in every inning.

"He's about as good as it gets in college," said Dolphin coach Steve Owens. "He made a lot of great pitches and got in front of everybody. I don't think he threw one bad pitch to a left-hander all night."

Ardoin was at 88 pitches through seven innings, and the senior righthander hadn't gone past seven this season, a fact not lost on Cajun coach Tony Robichaux.

"I gave him the option ," Robichaux said, "and he wanted to add to his pitch count and go the rest of the way. With him, you know he's going to give you a chance to win every time. There's no Jekyll and Hyde, no roller coaster with him."

Robichaux will be hoping for similar success from senior lefthander Austin Faught (4-0) in today's 2:05 p.m. middle game of the series. LeMoyne is scheduled to go with its No. 1 in righthander Bobby Blevins (1-1).

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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com