University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
South Alabama*
Cajuns Use Six Run Inning to Even Series with USA
3/25/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
The Ragin' Cajuns scored six runs in the top of the eighth inning to improve to 11-9 on the season.
MOBILE, Ala.-Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns used a six run inning to power past South Alabama on Saturday at Stanky Field in Mobile. The win improves the Cajuns to 11-9 (1-1 Sun Belt) and drops the Jaguars to 16-10 (1-1 SBC)
Trailing 4-3, the Cajuns' bats came alive in the top of the eighth inning. Jefferies Tatford led off the inning with a single to right centerfield. Devery Van De Keere advanced the tying run to second base and reached base on a fielding error by the Jaguars second baseman. Freshman Scott Hawkins lined an infield single to third base to load the bases for the Cajuns. Devon Bourque hit a sacrifice fly to deep centerfield to plate Tatford and tie the game. Cody Martin continued the inning by reaching base on the second error of the inning for the USA second baseman. McCarthy tripled to right centerfield to clear the bases and give UL a 7-4 advantage. Landry singled to left field plating McCarthy. Following a Landry steal, Lucroy doubled to left centerfield to score Landry and give the Cajuns a 9-4 lead.
South Alabama cut the UL lead in the bottom of the eighth inning. USA led off the inning with a pair of walks. Cajuns' reliever Brandt Sanders balked to advance the runners to scoring position. The Jaguars plated the lead runner on a groundout and then scored the second run of the inning on a fielding error by UL. The Cajuns ended the threat by striking out the last South Alabama batter of the inning.
Neither team scored in the final frame giving the Cajuns a 9-6 victory.
Offensively, the Ragin' Cajuns scored nine runs on 14 hits. Five UL batters recorded multiple hits in the game including Jonathan Lucroy and Scott Hawkins who led the Cajuns with three hits apiece.
Senior John McCarthy drove in three of Louisiana's runs on a pair of hits including a triple. He and fellow outfielder Josh Landry led the team with two runs score on the afternoon.
Danny Farquhar earned his first win of the season. He pitched 6.1 innings in relief allowing just two runs ? one earned run. Farquhar scattered six hits on the day striking out three, but walking four and hitting a batter.
In the Cajuns half of the first inning, Landry reached base as the Jaguars first baseman bobbled the ball. Landry advanced to second as Jameson Parker grounded out. With two outs and two strikes, Lucroy lined a ball down the right field line for his second triple of his career. The triple plated Landry to give the Cajuns a 1-0 lead after a half an inning of play.
UL's starting pitcher Jason Fernandez struggled in his first Sun Belt Conference action of the season. Fernandez allowed the leadoff batter Tyler Jones to reach base by way of a single. Jones stole second and advanced to third following an errant throw by Lucroy. Back-to-back singles plated a pair of runners to give South Alabama a 2-1 lead. With two runners on base, USA tried to bunt to advance the runners. Fernandez fielded the bunt and attempted to get the lead runner out at third base. His throw to third was off the mark and allowed the Jaguars to score another run. With runners on second and third, Fernandez induced a deep fly ball to left field. The runner at third base tagged up and attempted to score. Landry threw the ball home in time and was able to complete the double play and prevent the run from scoring. The Jaguar's Aaron George singled to left field to score another run.
Farquhar entered the game in relief of Fernandez. After allowing a walk, Farquhar ended the inning with a strikeout.
Fernandez exited the game allowing four runs ? two earned runs ? on four hits in just 2/3 of an inning. The junior walked a batter and committed an error in his rockiest start of the season. The outing was the second shortest appearance for Fernandez at UL. The transfer pitched a 1/3 of an inning against Purdue on Feb. 24 in his first appearance of the season.
In the top of the fifth inning, the Cajuns cut the Jaguars lead. McCarthy led off the inning with a single to right centerfield. He advanced to second on a groundout. Parker doubled to right centerfield plating McCarthy. Parker moved to third base on a fly out and came around to score on a two-out RBI single by Tatford. The Cajuns were unable to score anymore in the inning, but cut the USA lead to just 4-3.
The score remained 4-3 until the eighth inning when the Cajuns erupted for six runs.
The Cajuns and Jaguars will conclude the three-game series on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Stanky Field.
-Ragin' Cajuns-
