CAJUNS FALL SHORT AGAINST MIDDLE TENNESSEE...April 1, 2001

LAFAYETTE – Middle Tennessee's Justin Sims hit a tie-breaking RBI double with two outs in the seventh inning and Jeremy Armstrong made it stand up as the Blue Raiders took a 5-4 victory over Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns in the rubber game of the Sun Belt Conference series at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field.

Sims greeted Cajun reliever Andy Gros with an opposite field double to left that plated Jason Howarth, who had led off the inning with a double of his own off Louisiana-Lafayette's Eric Templet (4-4).

Templet retired the next two batters before giving way to the left-handed Gros. After Sims snapped the 4-all tie, Gros walked Brandon Johnson before Kris Lammers grounded out to end the threat.

"With as many young guys and new guys as we have, we have to hang around and not go away," Cajun head coach Tony Robichaux said. "You hate to miss an opportunity to move up the ladder. We had chances and we had a chance to win the ball game. We just didn't get it done."

Gros held the Blue Raiders in check the rest of the way, but Armstrong did the same against the Cajuns in recording his third save of the season.

The right-hander entered the game in the seventh in relief of John Williams, who surrendered six hits and four runs in six innings to improve to 4-0.

The only time Armstrong ran into trouble came after he quickly recorded the first two outs of the seventh. Then, Rick Haydel dropped a soft single into center field, bringing to the plate Bryan Sneed, who was 4-for-8 at that point in the series.

Sneed took a 2-0 Armstrong offering and hammered it to the deepest part of Moore Field. However, Middle Tennessee's Chuck Akers flagged it down just in front of the 400-foot sign in center field.

Armstrong's three innings of relief work came one day after Middle Tennessee (21-6, 5-4) watched its bullpen cough up an 8-5 ninth-inning lead in a 9-8 loss.

Despite losing a home conference series for only the third time in six years, Louisiana-Lafayette (20-13, 5-4) is within a game of the SBC lead. Florida International, South Alabama and New Orleans all stand at 6-3 with the Cajuns, Blue Raiders and Western Kentucky at 5-4 in league play.

"That's why I thought getting two out of three every weekend would be enough to win simply because everyone's going to beat up on each other," Robichaux said.

The Cajuns return to action on Tuesday at Nicholls State at 6:30 p.m. The game kicks off a five-game stretch in which the Cajuns will play away from Moore Field. Louisiana-Lafayette will travel to Arkansas State next weekend before playing LSU in a neutral-site game April 10 at New Orleans' Zephyr Field.

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 Apr 1, 2001 at Lafayette, La. (Tigue Moore Field) Middle Tennessee 5 (21-6,5-4 SBC) Name (Pos) AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB Avg RENICK, Josh 2b........... 5 1 2 0 0 1 0 2 0 NISBETT, Marshall rf...... 5 1 1 0 0 1 4 0 1 SIMS, Justin lf........... 4 2 3 4 0 0 0 0 0 SMITH, Kris pr/lf......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 JOHNSON, Brandon 3b....... 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 0 LAMMERS, Kris 1b.......... 4 0 1 0 0 0 10 1 3 PHILLIPS, Derek dh........ 3 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 GOODMON, Scott ph......... 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 AKERS, Chuck cf........... 4 0 0 0 0 1 4 0 2 THOMAS, Kyle c............ 4 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 HOWARTH, Jason ss......... 4 1 1 0 0 1 1 5 0 WILLIAMS, John p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 ARMSTRONG, Jeremy p....... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals.................... 36 5 9 5 2 5 27 11 6 Louisiana-Lafayette 4 (20-13,5-4 SBC) Name (Pos) AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB Avg SIMONEAUX, Neil 2b........ 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 HAYDEL, Rick ss........... 2 1 1 0 2 0 1 3 0 SNEED, Bryan lf........... 3 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 SALOOM, Brad dh........... 4 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 PAVLICH, Matt rf.......... 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 POCHE, Jess 1b............ 4 1 1 1 0 2 15 0 0 SHELTON, Robert 3b........ 4 0 1 1 0 1 0 3 0 VICKNAIR, Doug c.......... 4 0 0 0 0 1 5 0 2 VERRET, Chad cf........... 4 0 0 0 0 1 4 0 0 TEMPLET, Eric p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 GROS, Andy p.............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Totals.................... 33 4 7 3 2 5 27 12 5 Score by innings: R H E ---------------------------------------------- Middle Tennessee 000 130 100 - 5 9 0 Louisiana-Lafayette 000 301 000 - 4 7 0 ---------------------------------------------- DP - MT 1. LOB - MT 6; Cajuns 5. 2B - SIMS 2(7); HOWARTH(5). HR - SIMS(8). Middle Tennessee IP H R ER BB SO AB BF ERA NP WILLIAMS, John...... 6.0 6 4 4 2 3 23 26 88 ARMSTRONG, Jeremy... 3.0 1 0 0 0 2 10 10 41 Louisiana-Lafayette IP H R ER BB SO AB BF ERA NP TEMPLET, Eric....... 6.2 8 5 5 1 3 28 29 92 GROS, Andy.......... 2.1 1 0 0 1 2 8 9 44 Win - WILLIAMS 4-0. Loss - TEMPLET, E. 4-4. Save - ARMSTRONG (3). WP - WILLIAMS(3). HBP - by WILLIAMS (SNEED). Umpires - Home:Phil Gonzales 1st:Ray Garrison 3rd:Arthur Earl Start: 1:03 pm Time: 2:29 Attendance: 1310

University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics

CAJUNS FALL SHORT AGAINST MIDDLE TENNESSEE...April 1, 2001

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