University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Arkansas Little Rock
Cajuns Clinch Sun Belt Regular Season
5/12/2007 5:00:00 AM | Baseball
LAFAYETTE-Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns baseball team entered Saturday's game needing to win one game to clinch the 2007 Sun Belt Conference regular season championship. The Cajuns (37-13, 20-6 SBC) collected a season high 24 hits en route to a 28-3 victory over Arkansas-Little Rock.
Click here for photos of Saturday's game
For the Cajuns, the championship is their second in three year. UL claimed the 2005 SBC regular season title and fell one game shy of repeating in 2006 placing second behind
The Cajuns left little doubt on Saturday afternoon as they scored a new school record 28 runs in the game. The Cajuns scored in every inning except the first inning and put together three six-run innings and a pair of four-run innings.
Seven different Cajuns players had multiple hits in the game.
The Cajuns were led by Jonathan Lucroy. The junior catcher finished the day 4-for-6 with a pair of homeruns. He scored four runs and drove in a pair of runs.
Devon Bourque, Scott Hawkins, Matt Hicks and Josh Logan all collected three hits on the day. Bourque, Hicks and Logan all doubled, while Hawkins added his team-leading 16th homer of the year.
Jefferies Tatford and William Long both added a pair of hits on the day.
Three Cajuns drove in four runs apiece. Hawkins, Hicks and Nolan Gisclair all had four RBI days. Gisclair pinch hit in the bottom of the eighth with the bases loaded and hit his first grand slam in a Cajuns uniform.
Not only were the Cajuns' bats hot, the UL pitchers shutdown the UALR offensive attack.
Starting pitcher Hunter Moody (7-3) earned his seventh win of the season. The southpaw worked 6.0 innings, scattering six hits. He allowed three runs, but cruised to the victory. Moody struck out eight batters without issuing a free pass on the day.
Andrew Laughter entered the game in relief of Moody. Laughter worked 3.0 scoreless innings to earn his second save of the season. The senior hurler surrendered just four hits, without issuing a walk and striking out three.
The Cajuns jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. Hawkins reached base on a fielding error by the Trojans that allowed him to move to second. Tatford moved the runner over with a sacrifice bunt. Kolin Hatfield reached base by way of a fielder's choice, but Hawkins slid under the tag at home for the first run of the game. The Cajuns would add three more runs as UALR would ultimately commit three errors in the inning.
Lucroy led off the third inning with a homerun and the Cajuns sent 10 batters to the plate as they finished the inning with six runs on six hits to jump out to a commanding 10-0 lead.
The Cajuns only hiccup of the game came in the fourth inning. Four UALR hits led to three runs and cut the UL advantage to just 10-3.
The Trojans would get no closer than seven runs in the game.
UL added a run in the fourth inning before scoring four runs in the fifth. The four-run fifth was highlighted by three Ragin' Cajuns' hits and three consecutive RBI walks by Arkansas-Little Rock.
The Cajuns' fortune continued in the sixth inning. With two on and no outs, Hawkins belted his team-leading 16th homerun of the year. The three-run shot helped power a six-run inning by the Cajuns.
Leading 21-3, the Ragin' Cajuns got a solo homerun from Lucroy. The homer was the second on the day for the Umatilla,
The Cajuns put the final exclamation mark on the game in the bottom of the eighth inning. Leading 24-3, Gisclair entered the game as a pinch hitter with the bases loaded. Gisclair lifted a 2-1 pitch over the left-centerfield wall for his 10th homerun of the season and his first grand slam at UL.
The Ragin' Cajuns and Trojans will complete the three-game Sun Belt Conference series on Sunday afternoon at
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