Jaguar Baseball Swept By #3 Ranked Louisiana-Lafayette
Then #3 ranked Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns swept USA over the weekend to further improve their season record to 46-7 overall and 23-4 in conference play.
Friday night’s game was postponed due to rain which made for a double-header on Saturday.
In the first game, the Jags fell 5-2 as Cajun’ right-hander Austin Robichaux allowed only two unearned runs on two hits with eight strikeouts and two walks in seven innings.
In game two of the double-header on Saturday, ULL loaded the bases against USA’s Kevin Hill on a pair of singles and a walk before Greg Davis delivered a grand-slam home run to put the Cajuns up 4-0 early.
An RBI double in the fourth inning put the Cajuns up 5-0 then a two-run home run put the Cajuns firmly ahead 7-0 in the fifth inning.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Jags were down 7-0 when Drew LaBounty drew a walk, followed by a single by Andrew Tindell which was followed by another walk to DeGallier. Cummings then delivered with an RBI single to right-center to score the first run of the game. Cole Gleason then delivered a two-run single to score Tindell and DeGallier to cut the lead to 7-3.
Wojciechowski hit a single to score Cummings. Hawthorne walked to load the bases and put the tying run on base. Jones grounded out to shortstop for the first out of the inning but it scored Gleason to cut the lead to 7-5. Davis Knapp then hit a sacrifice fly to center which scored Wojciechowski and cut the lead to just one run. LaBounty hit a two-out RBI single to center which tied the game at 7-7 but the Jags could not muster any more damage the rest of the game.
In the top of the ninth, after a single and a stolen base, Greg Davis delivered a two-out RBI single to right field for the eventual game winning run.
The Cajuns completed the sweep on Sunday with a 13-3 win. Hunter Soleymani took the loss in 2 2/3 innings after allowing six runs on eight hits with one strikeout.
The Jags go on the road for their final series of the regular season when they play Troy on Thursday through Saturday, each game scheduled for 6pm in Troy.
With three games left, Lafayette is secure in the #1 seed with a 23-4 record. Arkansas State currently holds onto second with a 17-10 record, followed by Texas State at 3rd with a 16-11 record, followed by UT-Arlington in fourth with a 15-11 record, currently fifth is Western Kentucky with a 13-13 record, followed a three way tie for sixth between Georgia State, South Alabama and Louisiana-Monroe all at 10-6. Troy is just outside of the top-eight in ninth place with a 9-17 record and UALR is right behind them in 10th with a 9-18 record.
The top eight schools will play in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament to be held at Eddie Stanky Field on May 21 through May 25.