University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Cotto's Bases-Loaded RBI Single in Ninth Stifles Cajuns' Bid for Sweep
5/8/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Cotto's
Bases-Loaded RBI Single in Ninth Stifles Cajuns' Bid for
Sweep
Loss snapped seven-game Sun Belt road winning streak for
Louisiana-Lafayette
LAS
CRUCES, N.M.
–
Xardiel
Cotto's two-out bases-loaded RBI single to shallow right
field in the bottom of the ninth inning scored Mark
Aranda to give the New Mexico State Aggies a 9-8
come-from-behind victory over the 19th-ranked
Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns here Sunday afternoon at
Presley Askew Field.
The loss snapped a seven-game Sun Belt road winning streak, as well as a seven-game overall road winning streak for Louisiana-Lafayette (41-11, 13-5 Sun Belt). Louisiana-Lafayette now leads South Alabama by two in the loss column in the Sun Belt Conference standings, while New Mexico State improved to 25-22 overall and 10-8 in the Sun Belt.
Louisiana-Lafayette's Micah Cockrell (4-4) received the loss, allowing three runs on two hits in one-third of an inning. Thad Montgomery pitched four innings of relief, striking out five batters, while allowing two runs on five hits.
New Mexico State's Brian Gausman (3-4) earned the win, allowing one base runner in two-thirds of an inning. NMSU starting pitcher Bryan Robinson allowed six runs on nine hits with three strikeouts in 7 1/3 innings.
For the third consecutive game against the Aggies, Louisiana-Lafayette took a first-inning lead. Junior left fielder Josh Landry hit a solo home run to right center field to give the Cajuns an early 1-0 lead.
For
the first time in the series, the Cajuns kept the Aggies off
the scoreboard in the first inning. Louisiana-Lafayette
starting pitcher
Hunter
Moody retired the New Mexico State side in order,
including a strikeout of offensive threat Mark Aranda to end
the inning.
Louisiana-Lafayette added another run in the second, giving the Cajuns a two-run lead. Cockrell led off with a single to center field, followed by Phillip Hawke's 50th walk of the season. Cockrell later advanced to third on John McCarthy's fly out to right field. Justin Merendino later plated Cockrell with an RBI double to left field, resulting in a 2-0 Cajuns lead.
From there, Robinson would retire nine Cajuns in a row, including a pair of three-up-and-three-down innings.
New Mexico State was finally able to hit Moody, scoring three runs in the fourth inning to take a 4-2 lead. It would be the Aggies first lead of the series since the second inning of Friday's night game.
After Aranda grounded out to Hawke, Luke Hopkins then drew a one-out walk. With two outs, Derek Maytubby drove in a run with an RBI triple off the top of the right field fence to tie the game at two apiece. Brandon Lance then cleared the bases with a two-run home run to left center field to take a two-run lead.
Louisiana-Lafayette
responded with a two-run fifth inning to tie the game. With
one out, Adam Massiatte singled to right field. Coker then
doubled to left field, advancing Massiatte to third. Landry
then scored Massiatte with an RBI single through the left
side to cut the Aggies' lead to one run, 4-3. Lucroy later
provided the equalizer with a sacrifice fly to center field
which allowed Coker to score.
Montgomery replaced Moody after four complete innings. Moody scattered four hits with four runs while striking out five batters.
Montgomery got into a bit of jam in the fifth inning. New Mexico State took advantage to regain a two-run lead over the Cajuns, 6-4.
Jason Long drew a lead-off walk, followed by Vince Rodden and Robby Schildgen who each laid down successful bunt singles with the latter loading the bases with nobody out. Montgomery then struck out Aranda for the first out of the inning. Long then scored on a fielding error by Morris which kept the bases the loaded with one out. Harvey followed with an RBI bloop-single to center field which scored Rodden to give the Aggies a 6-4 lead.
With two outs, it was Cockrell who saved the Aggies from possibly blowing the game wide open. Harvey hit a ball up the middle and Cockrell made a diving stop behind second and flipped it to Merendino to end the inning.
Cockrell ended the fifth inning with a great defensive grab and started the sixth with a bang, delivering a solo home run to left field to get the Cajuns to within a run, 6-5.
Timely hitting had been key for the Cajuns all weekend and it was no exception in the eighth inning. Redshirt junior Alex Preciado came on to pinch hit for Hawke, who went 0-for-2 with a walk. With a 1-0 count, Preciado sent the Cajuns dugout into a frenzy with a solo home run to left field, tying the game 6-6.
It was the second pinch hit home run of the season for the Cajuns. The first one came off the bat of Lucroy in the Cajuns' 10-1 win over Marist College on Feb. 25 in Lafayette.
Louisiana-Lafayette
completed its rally with a two-run ninth inning to take an
8-6 lead. With one out, Lucroy doubled to right field.
Morris followed with a double to right field that Aranda
lost in the sun to give the Cajuns two runners in scoring
position. Cockrell was then intentionally walked to load the
bases. Jameson Parker then pinch hit for Hawke, which
prompted the Aggies to make a pitching change.
With Brian Gausman on the mound, Parker scored Lucroy on a fielder's choice to give the Cajuns a 7-6 lead – their first lead since the fourth inning. Morris later scored on a wild pitch to give the Cajuns a two-run advantage.
However, the Cajuns' two-run lead would not stand as New Mexico State would score three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to win the series finale 9-8.
Cockrell moved from shortstop to the pitcher's mound, replacing Montgomery entering the ninth inning. Vince Rodden singled up the middle to lead off the inning. Schildgen then drew a walk, followed by Aranda who was hit by a pitch to load the bases with nobody out. Hopkins singled to center field, scoring Rodden and Schildgen to tie the game 8-8.
With one out in the bottom of the ninth inning, Brandt Sanders replaced Cockrell, moving Cockrell back to shortstop. Sanders was able to get Emory Davies to fly out to center field for the second out. Aranda and Hopkins later moved into scoring position on a wild pitch. Lance was then intentionally walked on a 3-0 count to load the bases again for the Aggies. Xardiel Cotto's RBI single to shallow right field scoring Aranda to give the Aggies a decisive 9-8 victory.
Landry went 2-for-5 with two RBI and a solo home run. Cockrell went 2-for-4 with an RBI, while Merendino went 3-for-5 with an RBI.
Hopkins went 2-for-4 with three RBI for the Aggies. Adam Harvey went 3-for-5 with two RBI, while Lance drove in two runs.
Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns will return to action Tuesday when they host Southeastern Louisiana in non-conference play at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field. Tuesday will serve as Second Chance Season Ticket Redemption Night. Fans are reminded that they can redeem any unused tickets from the Cajuns' previous 29 home games in exchange for additional tickets to Tuesday night's game. First pitch is slated for 6:30 p.m.
NMSU 9, Louisiana-Lafayette 8 (May 08, 2005
at Las Cruces, N.M.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Louisiana-Lafayette. 110 021 012 - 8 12 1 (41-11,
13-5 SUN BELT)
New Mexico State.... 010 320 003 - 9 12 0 (25-22,
10-8 SUN BELT)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pitchers: Louisiana-Lafayette - Moody, H; Montgomery(5);
Cockrell, M(9); Sanders, B(9). New Mexico State - Robinson;
McFadden(8); Gausman(9).
Win-Gausman(3-4) Loss-Cockrell, M(4-4)
T-3:07 A-205
HR UL - Landry, J (5); Cockrell, M (8); Preciado, A (1).
HR NMSU - Harvey; Lance.
-Ragin' Cajuns-
