University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
New Orleans
Cajuns Complete Sweep of New Orleans with Shutout
4/16/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
The Ragin' Cajuns have won 10 straight games at the Tigue.
LAFAYETTE-Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns improved to 23-13 on the season and 7-2 in Sun Belt Conference play as they completed the three-game sweep of conference and in-state foe New Orleans on Easter Sunday at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field. The Cajuns blanked the Privateers 6-0 in the series finale behind the arm of Jason Fernandez.
The Cajuns have now won three straight games and have posted nine consecutive wins at the Tigue. The Ragin' Cajuns swept Arkansas State, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and New Orleans at home.
Fernandez was stellar on the mound for the Cajuns. The junior from Baton Rouge earned his fifth win of the season, working 8.1 of scoreless innings. He tied a career high with a dozen strikeouts and only issued two free passes. Fernandez surrendered five hits on the afternoon, but did not allow an extra base hit.
Senior Brandt Sanders entered the game in the ninth inning in relief of Fernandez. Sanders faced two batters and preserved the win and the shutout for the Cajuns.
The game was a defensive struggle. The two teams combined for just 10 hits on the day, with neither team generating an extra base hit. Both teams hit into a double play and the two teams combined to leave 11 men on base.
Offensively, UL had five separate players with one hit apiece. Senior Alex Preciado led the team with two runs batted in, while junior Devon Bourque led all Cajuns with a pair of runs scored.
The Ragin' Cajuns were aided by two Privateer's errors on the day and six walks. Louisiana's batters struck out just three times on the day.
The Cajuns started the game off with a pair of runs. Devon walked to give UL their first base runner of the day. Devery Van De Keere continued his hot play by singling to advance Bourque to second base. A single by Preciado scored Bourque to give the Cajuns a 1-0 lead and advance Van De Keere to third base. With runners on the corners, Preciado faked a steal. The UNO catcher threw to second base to try to catch the runner. The second baseman mishandled the ball, which allowed Van De Keere to score from third and give UL a 2-0 advantage.
Two runs would be all he Cajuns needed on the day, but UL added some insurance runs in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Josh Landry led off the fifth inning with a bunt single. A wild pitch advanced him to second base. Jameson Parker squared to bunt, but took four straight pitches to walk. The Cajuns attempted a sacrifice bunt once again, but John McCarthy reached base on a throwing error by the pitcher. The errant throw allowed all the base runners to advance and scored Landry. Bourque singled through the right side to plate Parker. Van De Keere was intentionally walked to load the bases. McCarthy scored as Preciado reached base on a fielder's choice. Jefferies Tatford extended the inning with an RBI single through the right side of the infield. The Cajuns finished the inning scoring four runs on three hits to take a 6-0 lead.
Neither team was able to plate any runners after the fifth inning and the Ragin' Cajuns were able to secure the 6-0 victory.
Louisiana will return to action on Tuesday night. The Cajuns will host in-state rival McNeese State on Tuesday, April 18 at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
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