MONTGOMERY, Ala. – One threw 142 pitches and doubled his previous career high with 12 strikeouts. The other laced two home runs while playing in his hometown.
Together, Louisiana pitcher Jacob Schultz and third baseman Tyler Robertson provided career performances, and because of that Louisiana is in the championship game of the Guardian Credit Union Sun Belt Baseball Championship presented by Troy University.
Schultz threw a complete-game six-hitter and threw shutout ball over the final seven innings against the Sun Belt’s best offensive team, while Montgomery native Robertson had a two-run homer in the third inning and a solo shot in the fifth to provide all of the Ragin’ Cajuns’ runs in a 3-2 victory over top-seeded Texas State in the tournament semifinals.
The win boosts the fourth-seeded Cajuns (35-21) into Sunday’s 1 p.m. championship game against second-seeded Georgia Southern, which beat Troy 8-0 in Saturday’s other semifinal. It will be Louisiana’s first championship game appearance since 2016.
“It’s all about these kids,” said Ragin' Cajuns coach Matt Deggs. “That’s who it’s about. They went out and made pitches and made plays and had great at-bats and fought and worked. It’s about those guys going out and playing their hearts out against a really good ball club.”
The Ragin’ Cajuns had been swept by the 11th-ranked Bobcats (45-12) in San Marcos, Texas, two weeks ago in the next-to-last weekend of the regular season, but Deggs said all three were close.
“All four games have been just like that one,” he said. “Hats off to them (Texas State) because they play incredibly well in their ballpark. It’s hard to beat a good team that many times in a row.”
Schultz (4-3), whose previous career strikeout high was six on five occasions, gave up two runs in the first two innings and only allowed two hits over the final seven frames. He retired the last 11 batters he faced after Texas State’s John Wuthrich and Peyton Lewis had singles in the sixth inning.
“That guy pitched an unreal game,” said Texas State coach Steven Trout, whose team had an 11-game win streak snapped. “I thought we had him on the ropes in the second, had some opportunities to score in the sixth, he just made pitches and kept making pitches. What a great outing for him.”
The Cajuns only had eight hits off three Bobcat pitchers, with starter Levi Wells scattering six hits and fanning eight in five and two-thirds innings. Austin Smith gave up only two hits over the final three innings.
But by that point, Robertson had provided all of Louisiana’s runs with his fourth and fifth homers of the year. One out after Connor Kimple’s leadoff single in the third, Robertson lifted a fastball over the left-field wall to tie the game at 2-2. Then in the fourth, he hit a two-out, 3-0 pitch to the same spot for the eventual game winner.
“Obviously that felt good hitting them in my hometown,” Robertson said, “but the first one I hit I had no idea it was getting out. That was a pop-up, I was surprised. Then the 3-0 one I knew I had to put a good cut on it. He (Deggs) doesn’t give that often, so I’m glad it worked out. It’s something I’ll never forget, but already that’s in the past. We’re here to win a championship, and that’s something everyone will remember. No one’s going to remember two home runs down the road.”
The Bobcats, who have locked up an at-large spot in the NCAA Tournament field that will be announced Monday, took an early 1-0 lead when Ben McClain led off the bottom of the first with a single and Jose Gonzalez followed two batters later with an RBI double to left-center. One inning later, a leadoff walk to Daylon Pena and Cameron Gibbons’ one-out single set up McClain’s RBI double for a 2-0 lead.
Schultz settled down and retired nine of the next 10 Bobcat batters. He only allowed one other runner to reach third base, when Wuthrich did in the sixth inning.
“It took him a second to get lathered up,” Deggs said of Schultz, “that’s kind of been his MO, but once he settles in and finds a weakness he just starts chipping away at it. That’s why I call him Allstate, I’ve called him Allstate since I met him. You’re in good hands with him, what you see is what you’re going to get. I don’t know how many pitches he threw, but I would have gone to 200.”