CAJUN BASEBALL DROPS SECOND STRAIGHT AT UALR .... April 15, 2000

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Louisiana's Ragin' Cajun baseball team struggled for the second consecutive day as Arkansas-Little Rock scored seven runs in the final two innings on the way to a 9-2 victory at Curran Conway Field on Saturday.

UALR's Ryan Fluger provided the big blow for the Trojans, blasting a two-out, three-run home run in the seventh to break a 2-2 tie and give UALR a lead it would never relinquish again.

"We had two strikes on the nine-hole hitter, but that's what happens when things go bad," Cajun head coach Tony Robichaux said. "The whole team is struggling right now, but all we can keep doing is coming back out. We can't feel sorry for ourselves. We just have to fight and work through it and we'll be better at the end."

The Trojans (23-16, 8-8 SBC) exploded for four more runs in the eighth inning. Derin McMains and Aaron Robbins led off the inning with back-to-back home runs, and David Garner scored two more with a single to left field. Garner and Clay Smitherman each went 2-for-3 with Smitherman and Fluger adding a game-high three RBIs each.

UALR struck for the game's first run when Stephen Smitherman scored on Austin Standiford's sacrifice fly to center.

The eighth-ranked Cajuns (30-7, 12-5 SBC) rallied to tie the game at one in the fifth inning, thanks to Rick Haydel's leadoff single and three wild pitches from Trojan starter Jacob Anderson. But the Trojans regained the lead in the bottom of the inning. Standiford reached on a two-base error before moving to third on a sacrifice bunt. Doug Garner's sacrifice fly plated Standiford to give UALR a 2-1 lead.

Again, the Cajuns responded to tie the game in the seventh. Haydel, Scott Atwood and Neil Simoneaux all reached safely on two walks and a hit by pitch to lead off the inning and load the bases before Ryan Gill's sacrifice fly to left field plated Haydel. However, that would be all that Louisiana-Lafayette would get as Anderson forced two infield groundouts to end the threat.

"We got the bases loaded, but when you only get one-run innings, things are going to be tough," Robichaux said. "We're just not getting the big hit that will get things going for us, and as a result, we're making other clubs better."

Louisiana-Lafayette managed only four hits in the game and had only one hit - Brandon LeBlanc's one-out double - in the final four innings.

Cajun starter Justin Gabriel dropped his first game of the year to fall to 6-1 this season. The junior southpaw gave up only one hit through the first 6.2 innings before the Trojans struck for the three-spot in the seventh inning.

Ryan McMains picked up the win in relief for UALR, throwing three innings of one-hit ball, to improve to 3-3.

The two teams wrap up the series with a 1 p.m. single game on Sunday. From there, the Cajuns continue west to meet Wichita State in a 7 p.m. game Tuesday in Wichita, Kans.

University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics

CAJUN BASEBALL DROPS SECOND STRAIGHT AT UALR .... April 15, 2000

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