University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Middle Tennessee
Ragin' Cajuns Eliminated from Sun Belt Conference Tournament
5/26/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Friday, May 26, 2006
BOWLING GREEN, Ky.-Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns saw their Sun Belt Conference championship run come to an end as UL dropped a 14-7 decision against Middle Tennessee on Friday night at Nick Denes Field. With the loss the Cajuns drop to 1-7 against the Blue Raiders all-time in the SBC tournament.
UL collected seven runs on nine hits including three homeruns, but surrendered 14 runs on 19 hits and committed three errors in the loss. The Cajuns used six pitchers in the game. Senior Brandt Sanders took the loss for the Ragin' Cajuns. He gave up five runs in just 2.1 innings of work. He committed an error that scored the tying and go ahead runs on the play.
The poor defensive performance by the team negated excellent offensive nights by Jefferies Tatford, Devery Van De Keere and Jonathan Lucroy. Tatford finished the game with two hits, including a pair of homeruns. He scored two runs and drove in three on the day. Lucroy had three hits including a homerun and a double. He scored a pair of runs and drove in a pair of runs. Van De Keere also hit a homerun on the afternoon. He finished the game with a pair of runs scored and a run batted in.
Greg Harmon took the mound for the Cajuns in the afternoon game for the Cajuns. He started the game with a five pitch walk in his first start against a Sun Belt Conference opponent. The second batter of the inning doubled to right centerfield to give the Blue Raiders a pair of runners in scoring position. The next batter grounded to first base. Tatford alertly threw home and retired the lead runner at the plate. Harmon ended the inning by inducing a double play.
With his start, Harmon became only the fourth Ragin' Cajuns pitcher to start against a conference opponent, as UL has relied heavily on Hunter Moody, Buddy Glass and Jason Fernandez during the regular season.
In the Cajuns half of the first inning, Middle Tennessee's Nick Marrs, who earned a win against the Ragin' Cajuns in the regular season, retired the first two batters in order. Marrs then surrendered a homerun to Van De Keere. His homer was over the right field fence just under the scoreboard. The homerun was the fourth homer for the Ragin' Cajuns in the conference tournament.
Middle Tennessee tied the game in the top of the second inning. A lead off double put a runner in scoring position. A ground out moved the runner to third base, and a sacrifice fly scored the run, knotting the score at 1-1. The Cajuns closed out the inning with a groundball to first base.
In the Cajuns half of the second inning, Scott Hawkins was hit by a pitch with one out in the inning. Josh Landry hit a ball to first base. The MTSU first baseman attempted to get the lead runner but an error by the shortstop allowed Hawkins to not only reach second base safely, but advance to third base. With runners on the corners, Alex Preciado grounded into a fielder's choice that saw Landry out on the play. The fielder's choice did plate Hawkins and gave UL a 2-1 lead.
The Blue Raiders took the lead in the top of the third inning. After a fly ball recorded the first out, Harmon hit a batter to give MTSU the first base runner of the inning. A single down the right field moved the lead runner to third base. With runners on the corners, Harmon threw a wild pitch, which allowed the Blue Raiders to tie the game. A double plated the go ahead run and an error allowed the runner to reach third base. After recording a strikeout, the Cajuns went to the bullpen. Sanders entered the game in relief of Harmon. He induced a first pitch groundout to end the inning, but the Cajuns found themselves on the wrong side of a 3-2 score.
MTSU added a run in the top of the fifth inning. Jeff Beachum hit a solo homerun to leftfield to increase their lead to 4-2.
The Ragin' Cajuns rallied in the bottom of the fifth inning to take the lead. With two outs, Van De Keere singled to left centerfield. He came around to score as Lucroy doubled to right centerfield. A Tatford homerun gave the Cajuns three runs in the inning and a 5-4 lead.
The lead was short lived as Middle Tennessee benefited from some UL miscues to take the lead. The Blue Raiders started the inning with a single up the middle. A single through the left side of the infield gave MTSU runners at first and second. The Raiders attempted to move the runners with a sacrifice bunt. Sanders fielded the ball and threw to third to retire the lead runner. The throw was off the mark and wound up in the outfield, plating two runners. Sanders retired the next batter on three straight pitches for his only strikeout of the game. Danny Farquhar entered the game following an infield single. A single through the left side scored another run. A passed ball plated another runner. Following a pair of walks, Andrew Laughter entered the game in relief of Farquhar. He threw one pitch and recorded a groundout to end the inning. After the top of the sixth inning, the Cajuns trailed 8-5.
The Cajuns cut the lead in the bottom of the seventh inning. Back-to-back homeruns by Lucroy and Tatford cut the lead to 8-7. The back-to-back jacks marked the fourth time this season the Ragin' Cajuns have had consecutive homeruns and the third time this season against Middle Tennessee. In the Friday game against the Blue Raiders on May 12, UL went back-to-back twice in the 14-6 win.
Two homeruns in a game marks a career high for Tatford.
The top of the eighth inning brought some controversy and saw the Blue Raiders extending their lead. Middle Tennessee singled off of the glove of Devon Bourque. The next batter hit the ball to short. Jameson Parker fielded the ball and appeared to touch second base for the force out and threw to first base in time to retire the batter. The umpire covering second base ruled that Parker did not touch the bag and called the runner safe. The Ragin' Cajuns disputed the call to no avail. Following a walk, the next batter singled through the left side of the infield to plate the runner that most in the crowd thought was out. Another single through the left side scored a second run in the inning. The Cajuns escaped with out any further damage, but trailed 10-7.
In the ninth inning, the Blue Raiders added four insurance runs to slam the door shut on the Cajuns hopes for a comeback.
The Ragin' Cajuns concluded the conference tournament with a 2-2 record, and fell to 39-19 on the season.
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