University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Troy
Cajuns Claim Share of Sun Belt Conference Lead
5/7/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Sunday, May 7, 2006
LAFAYETTE-Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns baseball team made a big move towards winning their second consecutive Sun Belt Conference title by edging out Troy by a score of 6-5 on Sunday afternoon at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field. With the win, the Cajuns (32-16, 14-4 SBC) earned a share of the conference lead with Troy (35-14, 14-4 SBC). The win also gives the Cajuns the tiebreaker over the Trojans in the case of a tie.
The last time UL's starting pitcher Jason Fernandez did not make it into the fifth inning was against South Alabama on March 25. In that game, the right hander pitched just two thirds of an inning and freshman Danny Farquhar came into the game, and proceeded to shutdown the Jaguars.
Sunday's conference game with Troy was not much different.
Farquhar entered the game in relief of Fernandez in the fourth inning with the Cajuns trailing 4-3. He worked 5.1 innings allowing just one run on a pair of hits. He fanned seven batters and did not allow a walk. The Cajuns offense helped him out by scoring three runs in the final three innings earning the freshman his sixth win of the season.
The Cajuns offense collected eight hits on the day including two homeruns. John McCarthy led off the game with a solo homerun and Alex Preciado added a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Jonathan Lucroy had just one hit on the afternoon, but the sophomore made it count. With the game tied at 5-5 in the bottom of the seventh, Lucroy slid a ball through the left side of the infield to score the McCarthy. The hit would prove to be the game-winning single.
Devery Van De Keere and Jefferies Tatford both added a pair of hits on the day, while Devon Bourque reached base three times, drawing three walks on the afternoon.
For the second day in a row, the Trojans were the first to scratch the scoreboard. Fernandez struggled with his control in the first inning. He walked the leadoff batter and surrendered a one out double to give Troy a pair of runners in scoring position. Fernandez walked another batter to load the bases. A deep fly ball moved the runners and plated the first run of the day. The Cajuns escaped any further damage as Fernandez struck out the next batter.
The Cajuns answered in the bottom of the first inning. McCarthy led off the bottom of the inning with his first homerun of the season. The homerun was the third of McCarthy's Ragin' Cajuns career and the first homer since April 9, 2005 against Texas-Pan American.
Jameson Parker followed McCarthy with a bunt single back to the pitcher. Parker advanced to second base with his team leading 18th stolen base of the season. He moved no further as the Cajuns were unable to muster a hit.
In the bottom of the third inning, the Cajuns took the lead. Bourque led off the inning with a walk. He moved to second base on a McCarthy sacrifice bunt. Parker walked to give the Cajuns two runners on base with Van De Keere stepping to the plate. Van De Keere singled to center field and advanced all the way to third base on a fielding error by the Trojan's right fielder. The hit and error scored both Bourque and Parker and gave the Cajuns a 3-1 advantage.
The Cajuns' lead would be short lived. In the top of the fourth inning, the leadoff batter singled to put the lead runner on base for the third time in four innings for Troy. Fernandez struck out the next batter, but surrendered a two-run homerun deep into the pine trees behind the leftfield fence. Fernandez took a line drive off of his pitching hand on the very next batter. He made the catch and appeared to be okay, but the right hander proceeded to give up a single, a walk and an RBI double. Farquhar entered the game in relief of Fernandez. He struck out the first batter he faced to end the inning, but the damage had been done as Troy took a 4-3 lead.
With two outs in the bottom of the inning, Scott Hawkins hit a double into right centerfield. The Trojans appealed to first base and the umpire at first base called Hawkins out ending the inning and the Cajuns opportunity in the fourth inning.
Farquhar was impressive in the fifth inning. He struck out a pair of batters in the inning and induced a fly ball for second 1-2-3 inning of the game.
He repeated his performance in the sixth inning. Farquhar caused a popup to the shortstop for the first out and followed that with a fly ball to right field. For the third consecutive inning, he ended the inning with a strikeout.
The Cajuns regained the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning. With one out, Tatford dropped a ball just over the head of the second baseman in shallow right centerfield. Preciado gave the Ragin' Cajuns the lead with one swing. The UL leftfielder hit is fourth homerun of the season to make the score 5-4.
After retiring the first two batters of the inning, Farquhar hit a batter to put the tying run on base. A triple to deep right centerfield plated the runner and knotted the score at five apiece.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Cajuns were able to get the lead man on base. McCarthy drew a four pitch walk to give UL a base runner. After failing to bunt the runner over, Van De Keere collected a one-out single to move the go-ahead run to second base. With runners on first and second, Lucroy laced a single through the left side of the infield. McCarthy came around to score and put the Ragin' Cajuns on top by the score of 6-5. The RBI for Lucroy was his 100th as a Cajun. Troy capitalized on an inning ending double play to get out of the jam.
For the second inning in a row, Farquhar retired the first two batters he faced and allowed the third batter to reach. This time however, after he surrendered a double down the right field line, Farquhar was able to retire the next batter without giving up a run.
The Cajuns led off the bottom of the eighth inning with a Tatford single into left field. Preciado laid down the sacrifice bunt to move the runner to second base. A ground ball moved Tatford 90-feet away. Bourque walked to extend the inning, but the Cajuns were unable to plate the runner as the next batter struck out to end the inning.
In the ninth inning, Farquhar took the mound to try to finish off the Trojans. The freshman induced a pair of ground balls before striking out the final batter and preserving the 6-5 victory.
The Ragin' Cajuns return to action on Friday, May 12 through Sunday, May 14 as they head to Murfreesboro, Tenn., for a conference showdown with Middle Tennessee. The Cajuns do not play any midweek games this week as the student-athletes will be taking finals. Following the series with the Blue Raiders, UL will return home for four home games to close out the regular season. The Cajuns will take on in-state rival Northwestern State on Tuesday, May 16, before squaring off with Western Kentucky in a three-game Sun Belt Conference series beginning on Friday, May 18.
-Ragin' Cajuns-
