LAFAYETTE ? The battle of the two hottest teams in the 2008 Sun Belt Conference Baseball Championship was one-sided as the second-seeded New Orleans Privateers survived to play another game, defeating the host Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns 10-0 in Game 12 Saturday at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field.
New Orleans (41-18) snapped Louisiana's (30-28) five-game win streak and set up a bracket final rematch between the schools at approximately 4 p.m.
Of the 10 runs allowed by Louisiana, only one was earned as the Cajuns' defense committed a season-high six errors.
Freshman Michael Cook (Lafayette, La.) couldn't continue his teammates' tournament pitching prowess as the right-handed was run from the game after four innings. Cook (5-5) allowed four runs ? one earned ? on five hits in four innings with five strikeouts. Buddy Glass (Clermont, Fla.) was tagged for six unearned runs on one hit in 1 2/3 innings.
New Orleans' Stephen Whalen (6-5) avenged last Thursday's loss to the Cajuns, going the distance for the win. Whalen scattered three hits, while walking two and striking out two.
Nolan Gisclair (Marrero, La.) accounted for two of the Cajuns' three hits, finishing 2-for-3. Nick Schwaner was 2-for-4 with three RBI to pace the Privateer offense.
A costly first-inning fielding error by Jordan Poirrier (Reserve, La.) on a tailor-made double play allowed New Orleans to take a 2-0 lead. The extra out allowed Josh Vander Hey and NSchwaner to post back-to-back RBI singles for the two-run lead.
UNO went ahead by three, 3-0, in the third on T.J. Baxter's solo home run. The Privateers added an insurance run in the fifth, 4-0. Ryan Eden scored from third when Dillon Guillory (Scott, La.) dropped Poirrier's relay throw at home.
New Orleans blew the game wide open with a six-run sixth inning for a commanding 10-0 lead. The Privateers scored their six runs on only one hits, but the Cajuns committed three costly fielding errors for the double-digit lead.
New Orleans 10, Louisiana-Lafayette 0 (May 24, 2007 at Lafayette, La.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Louisiana-Lafayette. 000 000 0 - 0 3 6 (30-28)
New Orleans......... 201 016 X - 10 6 0 (41-18)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pitchers: Louisiana-Lafayette - Cook, Michael; Glass, Buddy(5). New Orleans - Whalen, Stephen.
Win-Whalen, Stephen(6-5) Loss-Cook, Michael(5-5) T-2:10 A-2351
HR UNO - Baxter, T.J. (12).
Game notes:
Game 11 of Sun Belt Conference Baseball Championship
ULL and UNO will play Game 13 at approximately 4 p.m.
-www.RaginCajuns.com-
