University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Cajuns Unable to Overcome Fowler, Miscues in 6-2 Loss to Indians
4/1/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Cajuns
Unable to Overcome Fowler, Miscues in 6-2 Loss to
Indians
Arkansas State
scored all six runs with two outs
JONESBORO, Ark. – Arkansas State scored three insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to defeat the No. 17-ranked Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns 6-2 here Friday night at Tomlinson Stadium.
Louisiana-Lafayette (23-6, 2-2 Sun Belt) had only five hits in the game to along with two fielding errors, while Arkansas State (20-8, 2-2 Sun Belt) had nine hits, scoring two runs in the both the fourth and eighth innings. All six of Arkansas State's runs came with two outs.
Louisiana-Lafayette starting pitcher Kevin Ardoin (6-1) received his first loss of the season and his first loss since April 23, 2004, when he went 8 1/3 innings at Florida International. The Cajuns lost 3-2 to the Golden Panthers in that game.
Ardoin struck out seven batters, giving him 275 strikeouts for his career and now sits 15 away from tying Eric Templet for third all-time on the school's career strikeout list with 290. Ardoin allowed six runs on eight hits in 7 2/3 innings of work. Ardoin also had four wild pitches.
Arkansas State starting pitcher Taylor Fowler (4-3) earned his third complete-game win of the season. Fowler struck out five batters, while allowing two runs on five hits.
In the first inning, Fowler retired the Cajuns side, including two strikeouts. Ardoin did two better in the bottom frame, striking out four Indians batters. The third Indians batter in the line-up, shortstop Chris Rich, reached first base on a wild pitch.
In the subsequent inning, senior third baseman Dallas Morris extended his hitting streak to 20 games with a single up the middle. Morris' 20-game streak is tied for the third-longest streak in school history.
In 1986, Benny Burke (March 14-April 15) enjoyed a 20-game hitting streak, while Butch Harris (February 13-March 13) had a similar streak in 1989.
Arkansas State broke the scoreless tie in the third inning. After a Chris Prothro fly out to right field, Brett Kinning singled through the left field. Mike Sirianni then struck out, but Kinning advanced to second on a wild pitch. Kinning advanced to third on another wild pitch. Rich followed with an RBI single to left field, plating Kinning, to give the Indians a 1-0 lead.
The Indians added two more runs in the fourth inning to increase their lead to 3-0. Hudson Smart reached on a Phillip Hawke fielding error to lead off the inning. Smart then advanced to second on a wild pitch.
After a Brad Burkhead walk, Kevin Kull, Jr., advanced the runners to second and third with a sacrifice bunt. Isaac Dillon struck out for the second out of the inning. Prothro singled to center field, scoring Burkhead and Smart to give the Indians a three-run advantage. Kinning flied out to center field to end the inning.
After four innings, Ardoin had four wild pitches which were two more than his season total entering Friday night's game.
Louisiana-Lafayette scored two runs in the fifth inning, thanks to a two-out, two-run home run to left field by Justin Merendino. After Hawke was hit by a pitch and Morgan walked, Micah Cockrell grounded out into a 6-4-3 double play with Hawke advancing to third on the play. Then, Merendino cleared the bases, giving the Cajuns a much-needed offensive boost.
It took five innings, but Ardoin finally retired the Indians side in the fifth.
Ardoin kept the Indians' bats quiet until the eighth inning. After a Rich single, Geoff Desmond popped up to shallow right field in what appeared to be a sure out, but the ball hit the top of Merendino's glove and dropped between Merendino and McCarthy. McCarthy threw out Rich at second, but Desmond reached on a fielder's choice.
Smart singled to Ardoin, but was unable to handle it, putting runners on first and second with one out. Burkhead flied out to John Coker for the second, advancing Desmond to third. After Smart stole second, Kull sent a two-RBI single to left field to extend the Indians' lead to 5-2. Kull later scored on an Isaac Dillion double that sailed over the head of McCarthy to increase the Indians' advantage to 6-2.
Morris was the only Cajuns batter with two hits, going 2-for-4 with two singles. Merendino went 1-for-2 with a two-run home run in the fifth inning.
Kull led the Indians, going 2-for-3 with a run scored and two RBI. Rich went 2-for-4 with an RBI, while Prothro went 1-for-4 with two RBI.
Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns will continue their series with the Arkansas State Indians on Saturday at 2 p.m. here at Tomlinson Stadium.
Arkansas State 6, Louisiana-Lafayette 2 (Apr
01, 2005 at Jonesboro, Ark.)
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Louisiana-Lafayette. 000 020 000 - 2 5 2 (23-6, 2-2
SUN BELT)
Arkansas State...... 001 200 03X - 6 9 0 (20-8, 2-2
SUN BELT)
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Pitchers: Louisiana-Lafayette - Ardoin, K; Schambough(8).
Arkansas State - Fowler.
Win-Fowler(4-3) Loss-Ardoin, K(6-1) T-2:15
A-302
HR UL - Merendino, J (3).
-Ragin' Cajuns-
