Phillip Hawke went out the way he wanted, with a two-run homer in a clutch situation and a two-run double in his final home at-bat.

But it was a defensive play by Louisiana's senior first baseman that may have made the difference Sunday, as the Ragin' Cajuns wrapped up their regular-season home schedule with a 16-7 victory over Middle Tennessee.

The Cajuns, now one win away from no worse than a share of the Sun Belt Conference title, had watched a 9-3 lead dwindle to 9-6 when the visiting Blue Raiders scored two runs in the seventh inning. Two runners were on base and MT first baseman Josh Archer - who already had two doubles and a homer in his first three plate appearances - was at the plate as the tying run.

Archer hit a screeching one-hopper on Kraig Schambough's first pitch, one that appeared to be headed for the right-field corner. But Hawke leaped and came down with it, and easily won the race to the bag for the third out.

"That was a momentum stopper," Hawke said. "That was a big point in the game because two runs were going to score. It jumped on me quick but I was able to get a glove on it."

The Cajuns (44-12, 15-6 Sun Belt) got a run in the seventh on Justin Morgan's sacrifice fly that scored John McCarthy, and then broke the game open in the eighth with a six-run barrage off Blue Raider relievers Allan Woodward and Kyler Wetherington. Justin Merendino's bases-clearing triple capped that barrage and was the last of UL's 18 hits.

"We played good defense and our guys swung the bats well," said Cajun coach Tony Robichaux, whose team plays its final Sun Belt series next weekend at Western Kentucky. "Everybody stepped up ... there's no better way for the seniors to go out."

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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com