PRIVATEERS TAKE SBC TITLE WITH SERIES SWEEP ... May 14, 2000

LAFAYETTE – New Orleans rode the arm of Shaylar Hatch on Sunday at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field to take a 6-2 victory over Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns and claim the 2000 Sun Belt Conference championship.

The junior righthander gave up only six hits and two runs through 8.2 innings and, after a third-inning lead-off single to Rick Haydel, did not give up another hit until the eighth inning.

The Privateers, who needed a sweep entering the series to claim the conference title, handed the 20th-ranked Cajuns their third straight loss at Moore Field the home team had rolled up 38 straight victories in Lafayette dating back to last season.

Louisiana-Lafayette (39-15, 20-10 SBC) enters this week's Sun Belt Tournament at Mobile, Ala., as the No. 2 seed and will face Western Kentucky in the first round with game time to be determined.

As they did in the previous two games of the series, the Privateers wasted no time in taking the lead, putting up runs in the first inning. On Sunday, Sammy Cooper set the tone with a lead-off home run to Cajun starter Nick Webb, and Matt Matejcek's sacrifice fly scored Donnie Bollich for a 2-0 UNO lead.

Cooper led the UNO offense, going 2-for-5 with two RBIs and a run as the Privateers outhit the Cajuns 7-6. Matejcek also added two RBIs.

The Cajuns scraped for a run in the third inning after Haydel led off with a single and moved to third on a stolen base and a balk from Hatch. Ryan Gill then scored the Gonzales native on an infield groundout.

However, that would be as close as the Cajuns would get for the rest of the day. UNO (35-21, 20-9 SBC) struck for two more runs in the fifth inning on Cooper's RBI-double and a sacrifice fly from Bollich.

Matejcek then blasted a solo home run – his team-leading 16th of the season -- in the sixth and Todd Thompson answered with a solo shot of his own in the eighth inning.

Gill pulled the Cajuns to within four with a sacrifice fly to score Neil Simoneaux in the eighth inning, but that would be all the offense Louisiana-Lafayette would muster the rest of the day.

In the ninth, the Cajuns loaded the bases with two outs and had the tying run at the plate, but UNO reliever Ryan Lousteau forced pinch-hitter Jess Poche to fly out the end the game.

Steven Feehan went 2-for-4 to lead the Cajun attack.

University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics

PRIVATEERS TAKE SBC TITLE WITH SERIES SWEEP ... May 14, 2000

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