Cajuns drop first in conference

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. ? A shaky day defensively resulted in the first Sun Belt Conference loss of the season for Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns baseball team here Saturday evening as Middle Tennessee claimed a 12-6 victory.

The Ragin' Cajuns ended the day with a total of five errors committed ? a season-high ? and it was a miscue in the seventh inning that helped the Blue Raiders pull away after the Ragin' Cajuns had rallied from a 6-0 deficit to cut the lead down to one.

A pair of errors in the first and second inning aided MT (9-11, 3-2 Sun Belt) building up a 5-0 edge in the early stages of the game.

Justin Robichaux got hold of a fast ball on inner half of the plate and crushed it to left field for a grand slam with two outs in the top of the sixth inning and UL (15-4, 4-1 Sun Belt) was immediately back within striking distance after totaling only three hits through the first five innings.

Robichaux's blast trimmed the MT lead to 6-4 and Brent Solich continued his solid relief effort after replacing starter John Zorich in the third inning. Solich, who had held MT to one runs and three hits from the third through fifth innings, worked around a leadoff single in the bottom of the sixth to hold the Blue Raiders lead at 6-4.

The Cajuns cut the deficit to 6-5 in the top of the seventh inning when Jefferies Tatford beat out an infield grounder to second base with two outs allowing Xavier Alexander (leadoff walk) to score.

The Blue Raiders switched relievers (Nick Marrs started the seventh inning) as Josh Anderson entered to face Devery Van De Keere. The Cajuns looking for another pinch hit spark like Friday's game switched hitters bringing in Scott Hawkins. Anderson induced a fly ball to right field for the final out keeping the score at 6-5.

Solich, who had controlled the MT offense since the third inning, ran into trouble in the bottom of the seventh inning. He struck out Taylor Dennis to start the inning, but gave up back-to-back walks to Wayne Kendrick and Rawley Bishop.

Gregory Harmon relieved Solich and on the second offering to Adam Warren got him to ground to Alexander who was in position for an inning-ending double play.

However, Alexander misplayed the grounder to keep the Blue Raiders alive in the inning. Kendrick scored and the MT lead was upped to 7-5.

Zach Barrett drew a walk off of Harmon to load the bases. On the next at bat, Matt Campbell took a 1-2 offering from Harmon and hit a bouncer to shortstop. Barrett reached second base before Devon Bourque could and everyone was safe allowing Bishop to cross home plate with another MT run.

Blake McDade followed with a fly ball to centerfield that Nolan Gisclair couldn't catch up to for a double that plated two more runs and MT increased the lead to 10-5.

Two more Cajuns errors in the eighth inning led to the Blue Raiders pushing the lead to 12-5.

Gisclair started off the ninth inning with a triple to right center and scored on a Jonathan Lucroy infield single to third base for UL's final score of the day.

Robichaux's grand slam made him the Cajuns top run producer for the game as he ended the game 2-for-4 with four RBI. Lucroy and Tatford each had one RBI.

The heart of the lineup caused the most damage for Middle Tennessee. The Blue Raiders' 3-4-5 hitters (Kendrick, Bishop, Warren) accounted for eight runs scored and four of the team's eight RBI.

Alexander extended his hitting streak to 18 games when he looped a fly ball into left field that Myles Ervin dove in an attempt to make a play but couldn't make the play. The base hit moved Alexander within two games of becoming only the fifth player in school history to have a hitting streak reach 20 games (last was Dallas Morris' 20-game hitting streak during the 2005 season).

Zorich was handed the loss for UL. He surrendered four runs on five hits over two innings for his first defeat of the season.

Solich gave a great effort in relief as he tossed 4 1/3 innings in which he held MT to four hits. He was charged with three runs, but two scored after the Alexander error in the seventh.

Brad Robinson collected the victory for MT. He lasted six innings allowing four runs on five hits. All UL runs came on one at bat when Robichaux hit his grand slam in the sixth inning.

The loss was the first for the Ragin' Cajuns in Sun Belt play this season. Louisiana-Lafayette is now 4-1 in league play. With the win, Middle Tennessee improved to 3-2 in the league and moved within one game of the Cajuns heading into Sunday's finale.

Middle Tennessee erupted for a four-run first off Cajun lefty Zorich with Bishop and Warren collecting the key hits. Bishop's one-out single plated Dennis, and Warren followed with a two-run triple down the left-field line to send two more base runners plateward. Warren scored when Zach Barrett reached on a fielding error to give the Blue Raiders the early 4-0 lead.

The Blue Raiders tacked on another run in the second when Robertson scored on third baseman Tim Santiago's second error of the game. Middle Tennessee extended the lead to 6-0 in the fifth when Kendrick doubled, went to third on a wild pitch, and scored on Barrett's fielder's choice.

That's when the Cajuns began to mount their late-inning rally, coming up with five runs in the sixth and seventh innings to make a strong push and put the pressure on the Blue Raider bullpen.

Lucroy started the sixth inning with a single to left field which was followed by a Tatford walk. Santiago walked for the third time in the contest (second walk in inning) to load the bases with one out.

Robinson appeared to be out of trouble when Kolin Hatfield pops up the first pitch he saw to short left field where Kendrick retreated from shortstop to make the play for the second out.

Robichaux began the UL rally with his third home run of the season scoring four runs to close the deficit to 6-4.

The two teams will wrap up their weekend Sun Belt Conference series at 1 p.m., on Sunday.

LINE SCORE

Middle Tennessee 12, Louisiana-Lafayette 6 (Mar 17, 2007 at Murfreesboro, Tenn.)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Louisiana-Lafayette. 000 004 101 - 6 9 5 (15-4, 4-1)

Middle Tennessee.... 410 010 42X - 12 11 0 (9-11, 3-2)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Pitchers: Louisiana-Lafayette - Zorich, John; Solich, Brent(3); Harmon, Gregory(7).

Middle Tennessee - Robinson; Marrs(7); Anderson(7); Reilley(8); Roberts(9).

Win-Robinson(2-0) Loss-Zorich, John(3-1) T-3:11 A-617

HR UL - Robichaux, Justin.

Next Event

Footer

University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics