University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Middle Tennessee State*
Cajuns Edge Blue Raiders to Claim Series
5/13/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Saturday, May 13, 2006
MURFREESBORO, Tenn.-Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns built up a five run lead and held on to down Middle Tennessee by a score of 7-5 Saturday afternoon at Reese Smith Field.
The Cajuns collected 14 hits on the day and had five different hitters with multiple hits as UL outlasted the Blue Raiders.
John McCarthy, Devery Van De Keere, Jonathan Lucroy, Josh Landry and Jefferies Tatford all had two hits in the game apiece. Alex Preciado had just one hit, but made it count as he parked his sixth homerun of the season over the left field fence. Van De Keere and Devon Bourque led the Cajuns with a pair of runs batted in each.
Starting pitcher Buddy Glass earned his seventh win of the season. The sophomore did not have his best stuff, surrendering four runs on 10 hits. He went six innings and did not allow a walk, while fanning four batters.
Freshman Gregory Harmon picked up his first save of the year. Harmon tossed the last two innings of the game. He did not allow a run in first appearance in a Sun Belt Conference game. He struck out two batters and faced the minimum.
For the second day in a row, McCarthy led off the game for the Cajuns with a single. With one out, Van De Keere laid down a bunt and was able to beat out the throw for an infield single. McCarthy moved to second base on the play. The lead runner moved to third base on a fly out to deep right field. With runners on the corners, the Cajuns attempted to move the runners on a double steal. The Blue Raiders pitcher threw to first base to try to pick off Van De Keere. With Van De Keere stuck in a rundown, McCarthy broke for home. Middle Tennessee threw home and was able to throw out McCarthy at home.
After Glass retired the first batter on the first pitch he threw, he surrendered a single up the middle and a double down the left field line to give the Blue Raiders a pair of runners in scoring position. Glass struck out the next batter and induced a popup to the catcher to end the inning and the MTSU threat.
Following a fly ball to right field, Landry and Tatford collected a pair of back-to-back singles. After a strikeout, Bourque stepped to the plate and delivered an RBI single into right field to give the Ragin' Cajuns a 1-0 lead.
The Blue Raiders tied the game in the bottom of the second inning. The Cajuns retired the first two batters in order, but surrendered a solo homerun to left field to tie the game at 1-1. MTSU continued the inning with two infield singles, but UL escaped without any more runs scored.
In the fourth inning, Preciado led off with inning with a solo homerun to left center field. The homerun was Preciado's sixth of the season and second in as many days. Tatford singled through the right side with one out to continue the inning for the Cajuns. Scott Hawkins singled off the centerfield wall to move Tatford to third base. Bourque reached base on a fielder's choice that saw Hawkins out at second base. Tatford came home to score on the play, giving the Cajuns a 3-1 edge.
With one out in the top of the fifth inning, Matt Hicks walked to give UL their first base runner of the inning. Van De Keere singled to right field moving Hicks to second base. Lucroy singled to right centerfield to plate Hicks from second base. A Landry single up the middle with two outs scored Van De Keere and pushed the Ragin' Cajuns lead to 5-1.
In the sixth inning, the Blue Raiders' pitchers walked three consecutive batters to load the bases for Van De Keere. With one out, Van De Keere lifted a ball to deep centerfield. The fly ball was deep enough to plate Bourque from third base.
With the Cajuns leading 6-1, Middle Tennessee led off the bottom of the sixth inning with a pair of singles. One swing of the bat cut the lead down to 6-4, as Glass surrendered his second homerun of the game. Glass rebounded striking out two of the next three batters and inducing a ground ball to end the inning with no further damage.
In the seventh inning, the Ragin' Cajuns were unable to get anything going, but Tatford was hit by his team leading 16th pitch of the season. Sixteen hit by pitches is a career high for the junior and moves Tatford into sole possession of second place in the career annals. Tatford is currently just two HBPs shy of tying Bryan Sneed for most in school history.
In the Blue Raiders' half of the seventh inning, Glass gave up a lead off single. Chad Beck entered the game in relief of Glass. He struck out the first batter he faced, but proceeded to walk the next batter to give Middle Tennessee a pair of runners. Beck struck out the next batter for the second out of the inning and then finished the inning with a first pitch popup to the catcher.
For the Cajuns in the eighth inning, McCarty singled into right field with one out to give UL a base runner. Hicks stepped up to the plate and delivered a one-out single just out of reach of the MTSU second baseman. McCarthy moved to third base on the play. With runners on the corners, Van De Keere came up to bat and delivered his second sacrifice fly of the game to plate McCarthy. Leading by three runs, Lucroy came through with a single up the middle moving Hicks over to third base. The Cajuns were unable to score anymore runs as the Blue Raiders struck out the next UL batter to end the inning.
The Blue Raiders got the run back in the bottom half of the eighth inning. Beck walked the lead off batter and allowed a single to the next batter. He loaded the bases on with a walk. Gregory Harmon entered the game with no outs and the bases loaded in relief of Beck. He got the first batter he faced to fly out to left field. The ball was deep enough to plate the runner on third. Harmon caused the next batter to foul out to first base and struck out the next batter to close out the inning.
The Cajuns were unable to get anything going in the top of the ninth inning going down in order. The Ragin' Cajuns headed into the bottom of the ninth with a 7-5 advantage.
Harmon retired the Blue Raiders in order in the ninth inning to secure the win for the Cajuns.
The Ragin' Cajuns and Blue Raiders will conclude the series on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Reese Smith Field.
-Ragin' Cajuns-
