CAJUNS OUTSLUG FIU IN SERIES OPENER...March 23, 2001

LAFAYETTE – When Florida International's and Louisiana-Lafayette's baseball teams hook up, runs usually are scarce.

That could not have been further from the truth Friday night at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field.

Despite both club's throwing their usual No. 1 starters, the offenses took center stage in the Cajuns' 7-6 Sun Belt Conference victory as the teams combined for 24 hits.

"Our hitters really stepped up for us tonight," Cajun head coach Tony Robichaux, whose club had hit .156 in its previous four outings. "They came back and responded. We had a good practice (Thursday) and they did a good job bringing practice into the game. When you're at home, you have to try to do damage. You've got the advantage. We did a good job of getting the crowd into it and keeping them in it."

The hitters weren't the only ones to step up for the Cajuns (18-9, 3-1 Sun Belt) after a sluggish start.

Andy Gros picked up his first victory of the season, working 3.1 innings of one-run relief which stymied the Golden Panthers (25-7, 2-2) long enough for Louisiana-Lafayette to tack on a seventh-inning insurance run on Brad Saloom's RBI single.

"Andy's been throwing well lately," Robichaux said. "We figured he'd do well in a role where he could get 6-9 outs and now he's become a big weapon for us and will be that much more of a weapon for us in the middle of the week in case we have to spot start him."

Gros entered the game after Barry Paulk's two-out, sixth-inning single knocked Cajun starter Tim Ramon from the game. After throwing one pitch to Matt Huntingford, Gros (1-3) promptly picked Paulk off first to end the FIU inning and preserve a 5-5 tie.

The Cajuns wasted little time grabbing the lead they would not relinquish as Robert Shelton blasted an opposite-field double to the left-center gap to lead off the Cajun sixth. After a wild pitch from Matt Baluja (1-1) moved Shelton to third, Jess Poche skied a sacrifice fly to deep right field to give the Cajuns a 6-5 lead.

On the night, Poche delivered a pair of hits and three RBIs, including a two-run, fourth-inning double that pushed the Cajun lead to 4-1. Neil Simoneaux also had a pair of hits for the Cajuns, who had every starter beat out at least one hit.

Down 4-1 in the fifth, FIU rallied for four runs to grab a 5-4 lead, with the last run coming via a Ramon wild pitch. However, Golden Panther starter Jerry Courtney could not hold the lead, tying the game with a wild pitch of his own that scored Simoneaux from third.

The series continues Saturday at 1 p.m. when Brandt Ray (2-1, 2.25) takes the Moore Field mound for the Cajuns against FIU's Willie Collazo (6-0, 2.55).

Florida Internationa vs Louisiana-Lafayette

NCAA Box Score Game Play-by-Play

Box Score

2001 Louisiana's Ragin' Cajun Baseball Florida Internationa at Louisiana-Lafayette Mar 23, 2001 at Lafayette, La. (Tigue Moore Field) Florida Internationa 6 (25-7,2-2 SBC) Name (Pos) AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB Avg PAULK, Barry lf........... 4 2 2 0 1 1 0 0 2 HUNTINGFORD, Matt cf...... 5 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 NUNEZ, Hector 1b.......... 4 1 1 3 1 2 6 1 0 HINES, Brendan dh......... 3 0 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 ELDRED, Bradley ph/dh..... 2 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 QUINTANA, Miguel rf....... 5 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 2 ALFONSO, Gus 3b........... 3 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 DUENAS, Tommy c........... 4 0 1 0 0 1 7 3 1 TORELLO, Mickey ss........ 3 0 1 0 0 1 3 1 2 BURGOS, Tino 2b........... 4 1 1 0 0 1 3 3 1 COURTNEY, Jerry p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 BALUJA, Michael p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Totals.................... 37 6 13 5 3 8 24 8 8 Louisiana-Lafayette 7 (18-9,3-1 SBC) Name (Pos) AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB Avg VERRET, Chad cf........... 5 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 2 HAYDEL, Rick ss........... 5 0 1 1 0 2 1 2 2 SIMONEAUX, Neil 2b........ 4 1 2 0 0 2 0 5 0 PAVLICH, Matt lf.......... 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 BAILEY, Bret lf........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 SNEED, Bryan rf........... 4 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 BUNDY, Chase pr/rf........ 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 SALOOM, Brad dh........... 3 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 SHELTON, Robert 3b........ 3 2 1 0 1 1 1 2 1 POCHE, Jess 1b............ 3 1 2 3 0 0 11 2 0 VICKNAIR, Doug c.......... 1 1 1 1 2 0 9 0 0 RAMON, Tim p.............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 GROS, Andy p.............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 Totals.................... 32 7 11 6 4 6 27 15 7 Score by innings: R H E ---------------------------------------------- Florida Internationa 100 040 001 - 6 13 1 Louisiana-Lafayette 002 211 10 - 7 11 3 ---------------------------------------------- E - ALFONSO(13); VERRET(1); SIMONEAUX(10); SHELTON(8). LOB - FIU 8; Cajuns 7. 2B - ALFONSO(8); SNEED(5); SHELTON(3); POCHE(2); VICKNAIR(2). 3B - NUNEZ(3). HR - ELDRED(5). SB - QUINTANA(10); VERRET(3); POCHE(1). CS - PAULK(5); HINES(2); HAYDEL(2); SNEED(4). SH - TORELLO(6). SF - POCHE(1). Florida Internationa IP H R ER BB SO AB BF ERA NP COURTNEY, Jerry..... 5.0 8 5 5 3 2 21 24 102 BALUJA, Michael..... 3.0 3 2 2 1 4 11 14 44 Louisiana-Lafayette IP H R ER BB SO AB BF ERA NP RAMON, Tim.......... 5.2 11 5 5 2 5 25 28 99 GROS, Andy.......... 3.1 2 1 1 1 3 12 13 53 Win - GROS 1-3. Loss - BALUJA 2-1. Save - None. WP - COURTNEY 2(2); BALUJA(1); RAMON 2(3). HBP - by BALUJA (VICKNAIR). Umpires - Home:David Brooks 1st:Brad Davidson 3rd:Kevin Assman Start: 7:02 pm Time: 2:43 Attendance: 1530

University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics

CAJUNS OUTSLUG FIU IN SERIES OPENER...March 23, 2001

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