University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Former Cajun B.J. Ryan Makes AL's Lead "Hold" in 2005 MLB All-Star Game
7/12/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Former Cajun B.J.
Ryan Makes AL's Lead "Hold" in 2005 MLB All-Star Game
Ryan
uses four pitches to get two outs in the ninth inning and
set up Mariano Rivera for the save
DETROIT
– Former Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns baseball player B.J. Ryan
was as effective as it gets in his first-ever Major League
Baseball All-Star game appearance.
Ryan, a pitcher/first baseman with Louisiana-Lafayette from 1997-98 and the current closer for the Baltimore Orioles, was called into duty at the Midsummer Classic with the American League leading 7-3 in the top of the ninth inning Tuesday evening.
Ryan tossed four pitches and recorded two outs to set up New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera for the one-out save. For his efforts Ryan was credited with a “hold” in the AL's eighth straight All-Star victory over the National League.
Ryan relieved Cleveland's Bob Wickman with no outs after Wickman issued a walk to Andruw Jones. After surrendering a double to Luis Gonzalez that scored Jones, Ryan induced groundouts from Paul Lo Duca and Carlos Lee to get two critical outs and setup Rivera for the final out and the save.
Ryan was just the third Louisiana-Lafayette player – and first former Tony Robichaux player - to be selected to the All-Star Game when his selection was announced on Sunday, July 3, 2005. The other two selections from the program's past - Ron Guidry and Al Dark - make for pretty good company.
The fact that Ryan made an appearance in the contest made his first-ever trip that more memorable.
The former Ragin' Cajun is set to begin the second half of the 2005 MLB season as Baltimore's closer. Ryan has made 28 mound appearances since May 1 as the Orioles' closer. In 26 of those games, the opposition hasn't managed a run. He's struck out 59 batters in 39 innings this year. He has 19 saves at the mid-point of the season.
-Ragin' Cajuns-
