BASEBALL OPENS SEASON WITH DOUBLEHEADER SWEEP

BASEBALL TAKES SECOND WIN OVER LOUISIANA TECH ... April 29, 2000

LAFAYETTE – Louisiana-Lafayette exploded for nine runs off 11 hits Saturday on the way to a 9-5 win over Louisiana Tech in game two of a Sun Belt Conference series at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field.

With the win, the 20th-ranked Cajuns (36-11, 17-6 SBC) recorded their 37th straight victory at Moore Field dating back to last season and maintain their 3.5-game lead over second-place New Orleans and Arkansas-Little Rock. It was also the highest run total for Louisiana-Lafayette since posting 11 runs at Florida International on April 9, a span of 13 games.

Senior reliever Brian Babin recorded his second straight win over Louisiana Tech (21-23, 9-12 SBC)and improved to 2-0 this season after entering the contest in a difficult situation. With the game tied at 4-all and runners on first and second in the bottom of sixth, Babin took advantage of catcher Danny Massiatte's pickoff at second base and then forced Tim Meadows to ground out into an inning-ending double play.

In the bottom of the inning, the Cajuns took the lead for good as Steven Feehan reached on a two-out walk and moved into scoring position after stealing second base. Tech reliever Michael Clapp then appeared to pick off Feehan breaking toward third base but overthrew third baseman T.J. Soto, allowing the Cajun runner to score.

Louisiana-Lafayette then broke the game open in the eighth inning with four more runs. Ryan Gill blasted a two-out double to score Scott Atwood and Feehan and three batters later, Massiatte blasted his team-leading 10th bomb – a two-run shot – for a 9-4 Cajun lead.

"We stepped up at the end and got a four-run inning. Hopefully we can start the game on Sunday that way and finish it, instead of playing ugly baseball for the first half," head coach Tony Robichaux said.

Meadows lifted a sacrifice fly in the ninth inning for the final margin of victory.

Gill led the Cajun offense with his second four-hit performance in a week, going 4-for-4 with a run, three RBIs and two doubles. Atwood and Rick Haydel also went 2-for-4 with Haydel adding two RBIs himself.

Cullen Simmons, Craig Montgomery and Niko Bouzos each rapped out two hits for the Bulldogs with Tim Meadows adding a team-high three RBIs in the losing effort.

Clapp dropped to 2-3 after allowing four hits and five runs in 3.1 innings. The righthander gave up only one hit and one run in his first 2.2 innings of work before the Cajuns struck for the big blow in the eighth.

Returning to the Tech lineup after a bout with the flu, Simmons gave the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead with a two-run shot in the first inning after Montgomery led off the game with a single.

Louisiana-Lafayette cut into that lead in the third inning with a run on two hits and a Tech error. Jarvis Larry reached on a fielder's choice and moved into scoring position on Gill's sharp single up the middle. The two then combined on a double steal of second and third bases and then advanced one more base when Meadows' throw went into left field, allowing Larry to score.

But the Bulldogs answered with two more runs in the next half-inning and took advantage of the long ball to do it. After Jake Adams was hit by a Justin Gabriel offering to lead off, Meadows blasted his seventh home run of the season for a 4-1 Tech lead.

Haydel shaved two runs off that deficit with a two-run double in the bottom of the inning. After a two-out walk to Will Hawkins and a single from Atwood, Haydel blasted his second hit of the game into the right center gap.

In the fifth, the Cajuns tied the score at 4-all on Gill's double in the right center gap and took the lead for good in the sixth inning.

The two teams wrap up the three-game series with another 1 p.m. single game on Sunday at Moore Field.

University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics

BASEBALL OPENS SEASON WITH DOUBLEHEADER SWEEP

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