University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns: Baseball
3/13/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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Cajuns
Take 3-1 Victory Behind Excellent Pitching Performance
from Faught
Sunday, March 13, 2005
MINNEAPOLIS – Senior southpaw pitcher Austin Faught went 8 1/3 innings, while striking out six batters, leading the No. 19-ranked Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns baseball team to a 3-1 victory over St. John's here Sunday in game five of the Metrodome Classic. Earlier this season, Louisiana-Lafayette (17-2) defeated St. John's (6-7) 7-2 on Feb. 19 in game three of the Louisiana-Lafayette Invitational. St. John's starting pitcher Anthony Varvaro (1-2) received the loss, going seven innings for the Red Storm. Varvaro struck out 13 batters, while allowing two runs on three hits. Faught (4-0) earned his fourth win of the season. Faught allowed one run on three hits with three walks. Micah Cockrell received his second save of the save, going the last 2/3 innings with one strikeout. With the win, UL Lafayette clinched the Metrodome Classic title and won its fourth regular season tournament this season. It is the most single-season regular season tournament titles in school history. The Cajuns previously had won two regular season tournaments in 2002, when they won the Houston Astros College Classic and the Coca-Cola Classic. Similar to their meeting earlier this season, the Red Storm took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning. This time, it was a solo home run to right field by Greg Thomson. The Cajuns were able to get a base runner in each of the first three innings - John McCarthy (first), Dallas Morris (second) and John Coker (third) - but were unable to produce a run in any of them. Varvaro retired the Cajuns side in the fourth and the fifth, while Faught retired the Red Storm in order in the bottom of the fourth. After retiring the first two batters in the fifth, Faught walked Brendan Monaghan and Jim Martin before P.J. Antoniato grounded out to Faught to end the inning. The Cajuns finally broke their scoreless draught in the sixth inning. After Coker drew a lead-off walk, Josh Landry advanced him to second on a sacrifice bunt. Coker later stole third and scored on the play on a throwing error by St. John's catcher Monaghan to even the score at one apiece. Faught shut down the Red Storm again in the sixth. After a Thomson ground out, Blake Hershelman drew a one-out walk. Sam DeLuca then grounded out into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning. The Cajuns got their first look at St. John's All-American relief pitcher Craig Hansen in the eighth inning. With Cockrell on first, Justin Merendino laid down a sacrifice bunt in front of home plate, advancing Cockrell to second. Coker was then hit by a pitch for the second time in the game, giving the Cajuns two base runners. Landry then drove home the go-ahead and eventual game-winning run with an RBI single to right field, plating Cockrell for a 2-1 Cajuns lead. After Landry advanced to second on a wild pitch, McCarthy struck out for the second out. Coker later scored on a wild pitch to extend the Cajuns' lead to 3-1. With one out in the ninth, Cockrell came on in relief of Faught and recorded the last two outs of the game. Five different Cajuns registered a hit - Landry, McCarthy, Hawke, Morris and Cockrell. Landry had the only RBI for the Cajuns. Thomson led the Red Storm offensively, going 1-for-3 with the solo home run in the first inning. Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns will return to action Wednesday when they travel to Hammond to face Southeastern Louisiana at 6:30 p.m. Louisiana-Lafayette 3, St.
John's 1 (Mar 13, 2005 at Minneapolis, Minn.) -Ragin' Cajuns- |
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