University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Western Kentucky
Cajuns Open Final Conference Series with 11-3 Win
5/18/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Hunter Moody tossed his fifth complete game of the season
Thursday, May 18, 2006
LAFAYETTE-Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns opened their final home series of the year with an 11-3 route of Western Kentucky. With the win the Cajuns improved to 35-18 (17-5 Sun Belt), while the Hilltoppers dropped to 22-26 (5-16 SBC).
Starting pitcher Hunter Moody threw his fifth complete game of the season earning his 11th victory of the year. Moody gave up just three runs on nine hits. He struck out six WKU batters while not issuing any free passes.
The Cajuns offense scored 11 runs on just 12 hits. Three different Ragin' Cajuns had multiple hits on the night with three batters collecting multiple runs batted in.
Jefferies Tatford collected four of UL's hits and drove in five runs. He had a three RBI double in the bottom of the eighth inning that helped pad the Ragin' Cajuns lead.
Josh Landry also had multiple hits on the night. The senior had three hits on the night to go along with his two runs batted in. He also scored a pair of runs.
Freshman Matt Hicks collected his second multi-hit game of his young career. Hicks was 2-for-4 and drove in the first RBI of his career in the game.
Catcher Jonathan Lucroy had just one hit on the night, but made it count. In the first inning, the sophomore hit his team leading 10th homerun of the season. He also reached base four other times, tying a school record with four walks in one game. Lucroy scored four runs and drove in two others.
The Ragin' Cajuns took the lead in the first inning. Devon Bourque singled up the middle for the first hit of the inning. Two batters later, Lucroy hit his team leading 10th homerun over the scoreboard to give UL the early 2-0 lead after one inning.
UL added a run in the bottom of the second inning. Landry laid down a bunt single down the third base to start off the inning. A bunt single by Tatford moved Landry to second base. The Hilltoppers induced a double play for the first two outs, but the play did move the lead runner to third base. With two outs, Hicks singled up the middle to plate Landry. The RBI was the first of Hicks career as a Cajun and pushed the lead to 3-0.
The Cajuns were not able to get anything accomplished until the bottom of the fifth inning. Lucroy walked with two outs to get things going for UL. Alex Preciado followed with a single through the left side of the infield. Landry stepped up to the plate with two outs and delivered a base hit to right field. The single scored Lucroy from second base and moved Preciado to third base. With runners on the corners, Tatford lined a single to right field to plate Preciado and move Landry to third base. The Hilltoppers got out of the inning, but the damage had been done as the Cajuns added a pair and extended the lead to five runs.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Lucroy drew a four pitch walk to start the inning. Preciado sacrificed Lucroy over to second base. An infield single by Landry moved Lucroy to third base to give the Ragin' Cajuns runners on the corners. Tatford delivered an RBI single into left field ? the first run of the evening the Cajuns scored with less than two outs.
Western Kentucky cut the score with one swing in the top of the eighth inning. With two runners on base, Jordan Newton hit his 14th homerun of the season to cut the score to 6-3.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Cajun added five runs on just one hit. The Western Kentucky pitcher walked four batters and hit another two in the inning. The only hit of the inning was a bases loaded double from Tatford, which plated three runs.
Moody returned to the mound in ninth inning. After giving up a lead off single, he retired the next three batters to secure the win for the Cajuns.
The two teams will return to the field on Friday night for the second game of the series. First pitch is slated for 6:30 p.m.
-Ragin' Cajuns-
