University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns: Baseball
5/22/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
 |
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Cajuns Lose
First Sun Belt Series This Season, Will Face WKU Again
Sunday, May 22, 2005
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Before Sunday's game, Western Kentucky's postseason fate rested in its hands and the Hilltoppers' season will continue after defeating the 19th-ranked Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns 4-3 here at Nick Denes Field. These two teams will meet again, as top-seeded Louisiana-Lafayette (45-15, 16-8 Sun Belt) will face the eighth-seeded Hilltoppers (20-35, 8-16 Sun Belt) on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. (CST) in the opening round of the Aeropostale Sun Belt Conference Baseball Tournament. The loss prevented the Cajuns from winning every Sun Belt series in a single-season for the first time in school history. The Cajuns had only accomplished the feat once, as a member of the American South Conference in 1991. Thad Montgomery (2-2) suffered the loss, allowing three runs on three hits with two walks and a pair of strikeouts in 1 2/3 innings. Louisiana-Lafayette freshman starting pitcher Hunter Moody pitched probably his best performance of his young Cajuns career, although it was a no-decision. Moody allowed a run on three hits with a pair of strikeouts in five complete innings. Western Kentucky starting pitcher Daniel Faulkner (6-7) threw a complete game, allowing three runs on 11 hits with four strikeouts. Unlike Saturday's doubleheader, Western Kentucky scored first on Casey Hamilton's RBI single through the left side in the second inning which allowed Marcus Ross to score to give the Toppers an early 1-0 lead. After Faulkner retired the first six Ragin' Cajuns batters he faced, Louisiana-Lafayette scored two runs on four hits in the third to take a one-run lead, 2-1. Alex Preciado led off with a single through the right side. After Preciado advanced to second on Adam Massiatte's ground out, Devon Bourque's RBI single to left field plated the equalizing run in Preciado. Jameson Parker later singled to center field to score Bourque which gave the Cajuns their first lead of the game, 2-1. In the sixth inning, Dallas Morris' second hit of the game moved him into a third-place tie with Kevin Cantrelle on the school's all-time list with 226 career hits. Western Kentucky evened the score in the bottom of the sixth inning. Antone Towns, who had driven in six runs in Saturday's twin bill, knocked in another run on a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Jordan Newton to tie the score at 2-2. Louisiana-Lafayette regained the lead in the seventh on Bourque's second RBI single of the afternoon, which scored Adam Massiatte to give the Cajuns a 3-2 lead. However, that lead would not stand as Western Kentucky would score two runs in the bottom half of the seventh inning to take a 4-3 lead. After Thad Montgomery struck out Eric Scriven, he allowed a single to Corteze Armstrong and walked Matt Ransdell. With two outs, Newton's two-RBI double down the left field line gave the Toppers their first lead since the third inning. After giving up the tying and go-ahead runs, Montgomery was removed from the game in favor of Micah Cockrell, who did not start at start on Sunday. In the ninth inning, the Cajuns made a rally beginning with Jefferies Tatford's one-out double to left-center field. Justin Merendino's pinch-hit single through the right side put runners on the corners with one out. The hit extended Merendino's hitting streak to 16 games. After a Josh Landry strikeout, Bourque came to the plate with a chance to continue his impressive afternoon. Bourque then hit a shot off the leg of Faulkner which looked like it was going to score the tying run but Faulkner's throw to first base hit Bourque in the back of the helmet and the home plate umpire called him out on interference, giving WKU the victory. Bourque went 3-for-4 with two RBI. Morris had two hits, while six other Cajuns registered a hit in the game. Newton paced the Toppers, going 1-for-2 with his go-ahead two-RBI double. Ross went 2-for-4 while Hamilton and Towns each knocked in a run. Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns will travel to Miami Monday to participate in the 2005 Aeropostale Sun Belt Conference Baseball Tournament at University Park on the campus of Florida International University. The top-seeded Cajuns will face the eighth-seeded Western Kentucky Hilltoppers at 5:30 p.m. (CST) on Wednesday.
Western Ky. 4, Louisiana-Lafayette 3 (May 22,
2005 at Bowling Green, Ky.) -Ragin' Cajuns- |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
