Sunday, March 6
Cajuns Shutout Sacred Heart 4-0 To Complete Sweep
LAFAYETTE, La. – The 16th-ranked Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns baseball team shutout Sacred Heart for the second time on the weekend defeating the Pioneers 4-0 on Sunday to complete the series sweep at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field.
The sweep is the second of the season for the Cajuns and improves the squad to 8-4 on the year.
Freshman Nick Lee had a strong outing on the mound posting his second straight quality start. Lee threw six scoreless innings with six strikeouts and no walks to improve to 2-0 on the year.
"Nick Lee was just workman like today," head coach Tony Robichaux. "We played good defense for the most part, but we let a few things crop up right there at the end. Other than that, I thought we did a good job of coming off of the loss in the middle of the week and not letting it turn into anything on the weekend."
Jevin Huval, Eric Carter and Dylan Moore combined to throw three scoreless innings to preserve Louisiana's second shutout of the year. Moore earned his second save of the season and 15th of his career in the outing. The sophomore is now just one save away from tying the school record set by Matt Hicks (2011-14).
John Sostarich took the loss for Sacred Heart (0-6) as he gave up two runs on six hits in four innings.
The Ragin' Cajuns outhit the Pioneers 8-4 in the contest with Ishmael Edwards and Brad Antchak posting multi-hit efforts. Edwards was 2-for-2 with two walks, scored two runs and had three steals, while Antchak went 2-for-3 with an RBI.
Both Joe Robbins and Stefan Trosclair extended their hit streaks in the game with Robbins now on an 11-game streak and Trosclair sitting on an eight-game streak.
Louisiana struck early on an Antchak single to right in the bottom of the second scoring Edwards from second to take a 1-0 lead. Edwards singled to right with one out and then stole second.
In the next inning, Alex Pinero drove in Trosclair on a double down the left field line to extend the Ragin' Cajuns edge to 2-0.
Neither team would plate a run until the bottom of the eighth when Edwards came home to score on a throwing error by SHU reliever Baylor Sundahl. Louisiana tacked on another insurance run in the inning on an RBI single to right by Robbins to make the score 4-0.
The Cajuns return to action on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. as the team opens a five-game road swing in New Orleans, La. against in-state rival Tulane. Following the matchup with the Green Wave, the Ragin' Cajuns head to Troy, Ala. to open Sun Belt Conference play with a three-game series against Troy at Riddle-Pace Field starting on Friday at 6 p.m.
Bobcats Sweep Cardinals with 5-4 Finale Win
SAN MARCOS, Texas – Texas State finished the weekend with a 5-4 series finale victory to complete the sweep of Incarnate Word on Sunday. The Bobcats took a 5-1 lead to the seventh inning and let the Cardinals make it interesting with three combined runs in the final three innings, but held on in the end to improve to 8-4 on the year.
Tanner Hill followed up his 4-for-5 Saturday with a three-RBI day on Sunday, knocking his fourth home run of the season. Meanwhile, Dylan Paul rewarded the Bobcats for putting him in the starting lineup with a 2-for-3 performance, scoring once and knocking in an RBI. Luke Sherley and Derek Scheible both finished 2-for-4 with two other Bobcats tallying hits in the game.
Jonathan Hennigan earned his second win of the season with three strikeouts, three hits and one earned run in five innings. Pasquale Mazzoccoli came in for the save with two strikeouts in the ninth inning while Cory Geisler made his first appearance of the season, only allowing one hit in the eighth inning.
The Bobcats wasted no time scoring in the third game of the series against Incarnate Word. Sherley knocked a single to centerfield, and two batters later, Hill sent out his fourth home run of the season to put Texas State on top, 2-0, early.
Texas State kept it going in the second inning to go up, 3-0. Paul, getting his first start of the season, blasted a triple to right centerfield. He was able to score two batters later when Scheible ran out an Incarnate Word error.
After Incarnate Word scored a run in the fifth inning, the Bobcats answered with one of their own in the sixth. Sherley started the inning with a base hit up the middle, and Granger Studdard moved him to third base with a ground-rule double to left field. Hill was able to plate Sherley from third base with a sacrifice fly to put Texas State up, 4-1. Paul kept the inning going with his second hit of the day, a single to right center to bring in Studdard and push the lead to 5-1. It proved to be the run Texas State needed to secure the victory.
The Cardinals were able to score three combined runs in the seventh and ninth innings to pull within a run of the Bobcats. They scored two in the seventh, bringing in the first run on a single and a double. After a groundout, another single plated the third run of the game for Incarnate Word.
In the ninth, Mazzoccoli started quick, forcing a groundout and striking out the next batter. After that, though, a walk and a double put two runners in scoring position for Incarnate Word. The lead runner would score on a wild pitch, but Mazzoccoli rebounded to strike out the next batter to clinch the game.
Next up for the Bobcats will be at Baylor at 6:35 p.m. Tuesday before heading to UL Monroe for the first Sun Belt Conference series of the season.
Warhawks Hold Off Bulldogs to Take Series
MONROE, La. – Chris Hunt's stellar outing and an early offensive attack carried the Warhawks to a 6-4 win over Samford Sunday afternoon in the rubber game.
Samford rallied in the top of the eighth with four runs. The Bulldogs had just two hits until doubles by T.J. Dixon and Heath Quinn and a two-run single by Alex Lee closed the gap. Anthony Herrera took the mound and eventually picked up the four-out save.
ULM made a statement early. A Spencer Hemphill single and two walks loaded the bases in the bottom of the first. Jacob Stockton followed suit with a line drive that just escaped the diving left fielder and rolled to the wall for a 3-0 ULM lead.
The Warhawks extended their lead in the fourth when Cade Stone reached on an infield single to the hole at shortstop. Stockton scored after drawing a full-count walk to begin the sequence.
The sixth inning saw Stockton and Josh Faciane lead off with singles. With the bases loaded and one out, Cade Stone bounced one back to the mound. The throw home for the force-out was wide and allowed everyone to advance two bases and increase the ULM lead to 6-0.
Nine-Run First Inning Leads Mavs to Series Win
ARLINGTON, Texas - UT Arlington exploded for nine runs in the top of the first inning and cruised the rest of the way in clinching a four-game weekend series against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi with a 10-4 win on Sunday afternoon at Clay Gould Ballpark.
UTA (8-5) sent 13 men to the plate in the first inning, forcing the Islanders (5-7) to use three pitchers before getting out of the frame. Christian Hollie finished with a team-best four RBI with a 3-for-5 day, reaching in his first three plate appearances to lead a 14-hit attack by the Maverick offense.
Quintin Rohrbaugh extended his hit streak to 11 games with a 3-for-5 day, his third consecutive three-hit game and eighth multi-hit game of the season. Brady Cox and Darien McLemore added a pair of this and an RBI apiece, while Cody Farrell picked up a pair of RBI with a two-run base hit in the nine-run first.
Brad Vassar picked up his first win of the season with 4.0 innings of scoreless relief of starter Austin Gardner, striking out three while allowing just three hits. He was lifted after a one-out single in the ninth in favor of freshman Dylan Schneider who retired the game's final two hitters.
Islanders' starter Caleb Hanks was saddled with the loss after allowing five runs on six hits without retiring a batter in the opening inning.
TAMUCC held an early lead after pushing a run across in the top of the first on an RBI fielder's choice from Zacarias Hardy, but that advantage lasted all of three batters into the bottom half of the frame. Each of the first seven hitters for the Mavs reached base to start the game, with Hollie tying it up at 1-1 with an RBI single.
Rohrbaugh, Cox and McLemore each followed with RBI singles of their own in front of Farrell, who gave UTA a 6-1 advantage with a line-drive, two-run base hit to right-center field off of TAMUCC reliever Austin Blakely. Matt McLean's second walk of the inning three batters later loaded the bases with one out and RJ Williams proceeded to pick up an RBI with a sac fly before Hollie tugged a two-run double inside the third-base bag to round out the scoring.
Meanwhile, Gardner was able to put up a pair of scoreless frames before the Islanders scratched the scoreboard again in the top of the fourth when Austin Krajnak scored on a wild pitch from third base with two outs to cut the lead to 9-2.
TAMUCC added two more an inning later, chasing Gardner from the hill with an RBI single from Hardy for the inning's first run. Krajnak then greeted Vassar with an RBI single of his own to make it a 9-4 score before Vassar set down both Harrison Hill and Cullen Jozwiak on strikes to end the rally.
Hollie finished off the scoring in the bottom of the sixth, picking up his fourth RBI of the day on an RBI single into shallow right field to score McLean who had led off the inning with a double. Vassar took over from there, retiring 12 of the final 15 Islanders he faced before giving way to Schneider for the final outs.
The Mavs will now turn their attention to nationally-ranked TCU with a game scheduled for Tuesday evening at Lupton Stadium in Fort Worth before opening up Sun Belt Conference play next weekend at home against Arkansas State.