University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Florida International
Faught Holds Panthers to Four Hits as Ragin' Cajuns Win Series
4/20/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Sunday, April 20, 2003
LAFAYETTE- Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns baseball team defeats Florida International by a score of 4-1 here at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field to take the three game series two games to one. UL Lafayette (17-25) improves to 8-7 in conference play, while FIU (29-14) falls to 7-5 in the conference.
UL Lafayette received another outstanding complete game performance from a starting pitcher for the second straight game. This time it was Cajun junior left-hander Austin Faught who held the Golden Panthers to just one run on four hits to pick up the complete game victory. Faught struck out seven and walked no batters on the afternoon.
Faught set the tone early by striking out the side to open the game in the top half of the first inning.
The Cajun bats gave Faught an early lead to work with by scoring two runs in the first inning off FIU starter Arthur Santos. Dallas Morris reached first on a FIU infield error and came around to score the first run on a sacrifice fly by designated hitter Bryan Sneed. After reaching base with a single Cajun outfielder Cory Coles scored the second run of the inning on a RBI single by first baseman Phillip Hawke to make it 2-0 Cajuns.
Faught retired the first nine hitters and held the Panthers scoreless until FIU center fielder Ricardo Manita led off the fifth inning with a homerun to right field. Faught shook off the homerun and retired 14 of the next 16 hitters, never allowing a runner past second base for the rest of the game.
The Cajuns added two insurance runs in the seventh inning when second baseman Brad Saloom hit a two-run bomb over the left field wall. The homerun was Saloom's first of the season and it gave the Cajuns a 4-1 lead.
Florida International starting pitcher Arthur Santos (1-6) suffered the loss after giving up four runs (two earned) on six Cajuns hits in 7 1/3 innings pitched. Santos struck out one and walked no batters on the day.
Faught (3-3) picked up his third win of the season for UL Lafayette and his first complete game in seven starts with the team.
Corey Coles and Phillip Hawke both went 2 for 4 to lead the Cajuns offensively. Hawke picked up his team leading 32nd RBI of the season and Coles scored his team high 33rd run of the year.
The Ragin' Cajuns pitching staff held a FIU team that was averaging 7.65 runs a game to just six runs over the entire weekend. The Golden Panthers batted just .211 in three games against Cajun pitching.
UL Lafayette improves to 17-25 overall on the season and 8-7 in the Sun Belt. The Cajuns have now won five of their last seven games and will next travel to New Orleans to take on in-state and Sun Belt rival UNO starting Friday night at 6:30 pm from Maestri Field.
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
