Wednesday, April 29
Cajuns Defeat New Orleans to Win Seventh Consecutive
LAFAYETTE, La. – The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns baseball team defeated in-state foe New Orleans 6-3 to claim a season-high seventh straight win on Wednesday night at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field.
With the victory, the Cajuns improve to 29-15 on the season, while the Privateers fall to 14-30. Louisiana won 14 of its last 16 contests, all coming in the month of April.
The Ragin' Cajuns picked up the win despite being outhit 10-4 in the game, but the Cajuns were able to play error free ball for the fourth consecutive game.
"We'd be so much better of a team if we just would've played defense early," head coach Tony Robichaux said. "That's what hurt us. Now we're playing rock-solid defense. With that, you've got a chance every night out."
The Ragin' Cajuns and UNO combined to use 13 pitchers in the game with sophomore Chris Charpentier earing the victory for Louisiana throwing 1.1 scoreless innings in relief to improve to 4-3 on the season. Freshman Dylan Moore added to his team leading save total recording his seventh of the year in the contest posting a perfect inning in the ninth with a strikeout.
Reliever Hunter Medine took the loss for the Privateers allowing three runs on one hit with two walks in an inning of work. Outfielders Ryan Calloway and Hezekiah Randolph each had three hits in the contest for New Orleans.
Third baseman Evan Powell gave the Cajuns a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third as he brought home right fielder Dylan Butler on a sac fly to right. Butler reached on an error by second baseman Jay Robinson and then moved to third on a single by first baseman Greg Davis.
Butler came up with a huge defensive play in the top of the top of the fifth making a diving catch on a line drive to right center by centerfielder Chaz Boyer with runners on the corners and two outs to save a run.
In the bottom half of the fifth, centerfielder Derek Herrington launched a two-run homer to left to extend the Louisiana advantage to 3-0. The home run was the second of the year for Herrington.
The Privateers would answer in the top of the sixth scoring three runs on three hits and a walk to tie the game at 3-all. With runners on first and second and two outs, Randolph doubled to left to cut the lead to 3-1. In the next at bat, catcher Jonathan Santana doubled to right center to plate a pair of runs and even the contest.
The Ragin' Cajuns wouldn't have to wait long to regain the lead as second baseman Stefan Trosclair came home to score on a ground ball hit to third by Butler in the bottom of the sixth. Trosclair walked to lead off the inning and moved to third on a single through the right side of the infield by designated hitter Tyler Girouard.
Later in the inning, catcher Nick Thurman singled to left to score Butler from second and give the Cajuns a 5-3 edge.
Pinch hitter Brenn Conrad added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth as he drove in Butler on a ground out to third to make the score 6-3.
Louisiana returns to action this weekend as the squad heads to Boone, N.C. for a three-game series at Appalachian State starting Friday at 5 p.m. CT. Game one of the series can be heard live on ESPN 1420-AM, while games two and three will be aired on KPEL 96.5 FM.
Jags Fall in 17 Innings to Southern Miss
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Austin Roussel's walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the 17th inning lifted Southern Mississippi to a 7-6 win over University of South Alabama baseball Wednesday at Pete Taylor Park.
Breck Kline reached on a one-out walk from Jaguar right-hander Justin Flores, and advanced to third on a single to center field by Tim Lynch. Roussel chopped a 1-2 pitch toward first base, just out of the reach of Flores, to reach safely and allow Kline to score the game-winning run.
Nick Johnson (1-0) tossed two perfect relief innings and struck out four to earn the win. Flores (1-1) allowed one run on three hits with one walk and a career-high five strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings pitched in the loss.
USM (25-16-1) jumped out to a one-run lead in the bottom of the first when Connor Barron hit the first pitch he saw from USA right-hander Cameron Cochran over the right-center field wall.
But USA (29-17) answered with four runs in the top of the third to take a three-run lead. Ryan Raspino led off the inning with a single to left field, and Cole Billingsley followed with a double to right field to put two runners in scoring position with no outs. Bud Collura then tripled down the right-field line to score both runners for one-run advantage. Ben Gann followed with an RBI groundout to second base to plate Collura and extend the USA lead to 3-1. Matt Bolger followed with a two-out single to right field before Adam Ballew tripled to right-center field to score Bolger and push the Jaguar lead to 4-1.
Southern Miss answered to cut the South Alabama lead in half in the bottom of the fourth on a one-out solo home run to left field by Taylor Braley. The Golden Eagles followed with a double from Chase Scott, walk from Cochran to Tim Lynch and a single to center field by Matt Durst to load the bases with one out. Chuckie Robinson followed with a two-run single down the right-field line to tie the game 4-4.
Michael Sterling led off the bottom of the seventh with a bunt-single to third, and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Nick Dawson. Dylan Burdeaux then delivered a two-out RBI double to right field to score Sterling for a 5-4 USM lead.
Consecutive singles from Cole Gleason and Ballew led off the Jaguar eighth inning. A sacrifice bunt from Jared Barnes moved both runners into scoring position with one out. Garrett DeGallier then reached on a fielder's choice to second, which USM second baseman Dawson threw wide of home plate to allow both runners to score and give the Jags a 6-5 lead.
But USM answered to tie the game 6-6 in the bottom of the eighth on a two-out RBI single to left field from Robinson which eventually forced extra innings.
Collura went 3-for-6 with a triple, two RBI, one run scored and a stolen base to lead the Jaguars at the plate. Lynch finished 3-for-7 with an RBI to lead the Golden Eagles offensively.
USA will return to action this weekend when it travels to Statesboro, Ga., for a three-game Sun Belt Conference series with Georgia Southern.
Dobson Homers Twice in Loss to East Tennessee State
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. — Dillon Dobson moved into Appalachian State University’s all-time top 10 with two home runs but East Tennessee State scored seven times in the first two innings and went on to hand the Mountaineers a 10-4 defeat on Wednesday evening at Thomas Stadium.
Dobson’s solo homers in the first and eighth innings gave the junior 10 home runs for the season and 27 for his career, which is good for a tie for seventh in Appalachian State history. The 27 career dingers are the most by a Mountaineer since Wes Hobson and Jerrod Faggart hit 30 and 28, respectively, from 2007-10.
Dobson’s line-drive, opposite-field shot to left opened the scoring in the top of the first inning. Two batters later, freshman Conner Leonard launched a solo blast of his own over the left-center field wall and Appalachian State (13-33) grabbed an early 2-0 lead.
However, the Mountaineers’ only advantage of the ballgame didn’t last long as, aided by the first of two catcher’s interference calls, ETSU (17-27) scored three runs (two unearned) in the bottom of the first to take a 3-2 lead.
Appalachian State tied it at 3-3 on Dylan Hamel’s RBI single in the top of the second but ETSU exploded for four runs in the bottom of the frame to grab a commanding 7-3 lead. Three-straight doubles after a leadoff walk highlighted the four-run second for the Bucs.
After the frantic first two innings, the game settled down. ETSU stretched its lead to 8-3 with an unearned run in the fifth and Dobson made it 8-4 with his no-doubt solo bomb to right field in the top of the eighth. The Bucs closed scoring with two more unearned tallies in the bottom of the eighth.
Dobson and Leonard finished with two hits apiece to account for the majority of Appalachian State’s six-hit effort. Matt Brill walked and doubled to extend his on-base streak to 15 games.
ETSU finished with 11 hits but half of its 10 runs were unearned thanks to the Mountaineers’ three errors (two of which came on catcher’s interference).
With a Sun Belt Conference Tournament berth still in reach, Appalachian State hosts perennial conference power UL Lafayette for a pivotal three-game Sun Belt series this weekend at Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium. Game times are set for 6 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.
Warhawks Fall to Nicholls State in Final Non-Conference Game
THIBODAUX, La. -- ULM got off to a hot start, but Nicholls used four multiple run innings to claim a 16-6 win over the Warhawks on Wednesday night at Ray E. Didier Field.
ULM jumped on Nicholls early with a four-run first inning. With one out in the frame, Keelin Rasch tripled to center field and came in to score on a RBI single to left by Kodie Tidwell. With two outs, Danny Springer hit his seventh homer of the season (tied for team lead) to push the lead to 3-0 and Spencer Hemphill followed with a solo homer to give the Warhawks a 4-0 lead.
The back-to-back homers by the Warhawks Wednesday night marked the first time ULM accomplished the feat since Dalton Herrington and Rasch hit back-to-back homers at UT Arlington on Apr. 4, 2014.
The Warhawks threatened in the top of the second as the visiting squad put runners on the corners after Rasch reached on an error at second base. The Warhawks unfortunately were unable to add to their lead as Rasch and Cody Stone were left stranded.
Nicholls trimmed the ULM lead to two runs as Justin Smith hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the second inning. Later the in frame, the Colonels loaded the bases but Warhawk pitcher Brayden Bouchey got Kyle Reese to strikeout looking to end the threat.
An inning later, the Colonels took their first lead of the game as they scored seven runs in the fourth, highlighted by a two-RBI double by Smith. Nicholls added two runs in the fifth inning and five runs in the eighth inning to push its lead to 16-4.
In the ninth, ULM tallied two run(s) as Anthony Herrera tallied a RBI double to right center to drive in Nathan Pugh and Rasch drove in Stone as the senior third baseman reached on an error. The two runs by ULM in the ninth set the final tally at 16-6.
Rasch led the Warhawks with three hits, one RBI and one run, while Hemphill added two hits, one RBI and one run. Bouchey (4-3) was tagged with the loss after allowing five runs on five hits and three walks with one strikeout in 3.1 innings of work.
Nicholls relief pitcher Marc Frazier (2-5) earned the win after tossing six scoreless innings, scattering five hits and six strikeouts.