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CAJUNS PULL OFF COME-FROM-BEHIND VICTORY AGAINST MT...March 31, 2001

LAFAYETTE – For Robert Shelton, Saturday afternoon must have felt like old times.

The junior transfer from Mississippi who won three Southeastern Conference games with home runs as a Rebel capped a frantic four-run, ninth-inning Louisiana-Lafayette rally with an opposite-field two-run double that lifted the Cajuns to a 9-8 Sun Belt Conference victory over Middle Tennessee at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field.

"The first pitch (Blue Raider reliever Jason Kuhn) threw me was a fastball inside that I fouled off my foot," said Shelton, whose first home run as a Cajun cut the Blue Raider lead to 4-1 in the fourth inning. "He came back with another fastball and I hit it the other way. I thought it was gone, but a double counts just as much."

Shelton's double plated Chase Bundy and his former New Hope High School teammate Scott Atwood the tying and game-winning runs as the Cajuns (20-12, 5-3 SBC) rallied from 6-1 and 8-5 deficits to move into a tie for second place in the Sun Belt in front of a crowd of 1,162.

Seeing Louisiana-Lafayette rally from late-inning deficits has become almost commonplace in Sun Belt play. Saturday's victory marked the third time the Cajuns have come-from-behind to win a conference game, but the first time they have done so when trailing after seven innings.

"One good thing about keeping everyone here late is that we can sell nachos," Cajun head coach Tony Robichaux said with a chuckle. "But, the way we played early, we were hoping they'd be here to buy those nachos. The only thing I was disappointed in was the tempo we set early. Lance (Stutes) came in and picked the tempo up for us. The home run by Robert at first and the home run by Rick Haydel really brought us closer and gave us some belief that we could come back."

Haydel, who has fought through a injury to his non-throwing shoulder, swung the momentum away from the Blue Raiders (20-6, 4-4 SBC) with one swing. After Brad Saloom chased MT starter Kris Lammers with a one-out single in the seventh, Haydel welcomed Kevin Davis with his first home run of the season, a three-run blast to left-center on the first pitch Davis threw to cut the Blue Raider lead to 6-5.

After leaving a runner in scoring position in the eighth, the Cajuns let the Blue Raiders pad their lead on a two-run double by Brandon Johnson off reliever and winner Andy Gros (2-3).

However, Gros settled down and kept the lead at two, allowing the Cajuns to complete the stirring comeback.

"We let it get away with the double off the wall in the eighth," Robichaux said. "But, you have to give a lot of credit to these guys. This isn't the first time they've come back at the end of the game and got the job done."

Haydel jump-started the rally, taking a Kuhn (2-2) pitch in the back with one out. Neil Simoneaux then beat out an infield hit before Matt Pavlich unloaded a frozen rope that melted into Kuhn.

The line drive lodged inside Kuhn's uniform shirt, loading the bases for the Cajuns. Bundy then chopped a possible double-play ball at MT shortstop Jason Howarth. Howarth flipped to Josh Renick at second, but Renick's throw sailed up the line from Lammers at first, allowing Simoneaux to score from second to again cut the MT lead to one.

The series concludes today at 1 p.m. with Louisiana-Lafayette's Eric Templet (4-3, 3.83) opposing MT's John Williams.

Middle Tennessee vs Louisiana-Lafayette

NCAA Box Score Game Play-by-Play

Box Score

2001 Louisiana's Ragin' Cajun Baseball Middle Tennessee at Louisiana-Lafayette Mar 31, 2001 at Lafayette, La. (Tigue Moore Field) Middle Tennessee 8 (20-6,4-4 SBC) Name (Pos) AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB Avg RENICK, Josh 2b........... 5 2 2 0 0 0 4 2 2 NISBETT, Marshall rf...... 4 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 1 SIMS, Justin lf........... 5 3 3 2 0 1 1 0 0 JOHNSON, Brandon 3b....... 4 1 2 4 1 1 0 2 0 SKILLMAN, Kyle dh......... 4 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 DAVIS, Kevin p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 KLINE, Steve p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 KUHN, Jason p............. 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 THOMAS, Kyle 1b/c......... 4 1 0 0 1 1 6 2 1 AKERS, Chuck cf........... 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 HOWARTH, Jason ss......... 3 0 3 1 0 0 3 4 0 HARP, Troy c.............. 3 0 0 0 0 2 4 2 0 LAMMERS, Kris p/1b........ 1 0 0 0 0 1 4 2 1 Totals.................... 38 8 12 7 2 8 26 14 7 Louisiana-Lafayette 9 (20-12,5-3 SBC) Name (Pos) AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB Avg SALOOM, Brad dh........... 5 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 HAYDEL, Rick ss........... 3 2 2 4 0 0 0 3 1 SIMONEAUX, Neil 2b........ 5 1 1 0 0 1 2 6 2 PAVLICH, Matt rf.......... 5 0 2 0 0 2 1 0 0 PREAU, Kevin pr........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 SNEED, Bryan lf........... 4 0 3 0 0 1 1 0 0 BUNDY, Chase pr/lf........ 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 POCHE, Jess 1b............ 3 0 0 0 0 0 10 1 1 BAILEY, Bret ph........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ATWOOD, Scott 1b.......... 0 1 0 0 1 0 3 0 0 SHELTON, Robert 3b........ 4 2 2 3 1 1 1 2 1 KABEL, Mike c............. 2 0 0 0 0 1 5 1 0 VICKNAIR, Doug c.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 VERRET, Chad cf........... 4 1 2 0 0 0 2 0 2 RAY, Brandt p............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 STUTES, Lance p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 GROS, Andy p.............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 Totals.................... 36 9 14 8 2 6 27 17 8 Score by innings: R H E ---------------------------------------------- Middle Tennessee 112 020 002 - 8 12 3 Louisiana-Lafayette 001 010 304 - 9 14 2 ---------------------------------------------- Note: 2 outs, 1 runner(s) LOB when the game ended. E - RENICK 2(7); THOMAS(5); KABEL(1); RAY(1). DP - MT 2. LOB - MT 7; Cajuns 8. 2B - JOHNSON(15); HOWARTH 2(4); SNEED(6); SHELTON(5). HR - SIMS(7); JOHNSON(3); HAYDEL(1); SHELTON(1). SB - RENICK(13); NISBETT(7); SIMS(4); THOMAS 2(3); AKERS(7); BUNDY(10). CS - JOHNSON(1). SH - NISBETT(3); BAILEY(2). SF - HOWARTH(2); HAYDEL(4). Middle Tennessee IP H R ER BB SO AB BF ERA NP LAMMERS, Kris....... 6.1 9 4 4 1 6 25 28 91 DAVIS, Kevin........ 1.0 2 1 1 0 0 4 5 19 KLINE, Steve........ 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 4 KUHN, Jason......... 1.0 3 4 3 1 0 6 9 20 Louisiana-Lafayette IP H R ER BB SO AB BF ERA NP RAY, Brandt......... 4.0 6 6 5 1 6 19 21 75 STUTES, Lance....... 4.0 4 1 1 1 2 15 16 52 GROS, Andy.......... 1.0 2 1 1 0 0 4 5 17 Win - GROS 2-3. Loss - KUHN 2-2. Save - None. PB - VICKNAIR(8). HBP - by LAMMERS (VICKNAIR); by KUHN (VICKNAIR); by KUHN (HAYDEL). Umpires - Home:Arthur Earl 1st:Phil Gonzales 3rd:Ray Garrison Start: 12:59 pm Time: 2:59 Attendance: 1171 RAY faced 2 batters in the 5th. STUTES faced 1 batter in the 9th.

University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics

BASEBALL OPENS SEASON WITH DOUBLEHEADER SWEEP

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