Not Too Late, But Too Little

HATTIESBURG, Miss. ? Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns made a late five-run push across the fifth and sixth innings, but ended up losing their third straight game Saturday, falling to Southern Miss by the score of 13-6. UL drops to 1-5-1 heading into the series finale Sunday.

Overall, the Cajuns put up 11 hits against Southern Miss' 14, while committing two errors. The Golden Eagles did not make any errors.

The Cajuns' offensive production continues to center around hot-hitting Greg Fontenot, who is now on a six-game hitting streak and broke out for a 3-for-4 day at the plate, including two runs and an RBI. He is now hitting .455 with three RBIs and a .727 slugging percentage. First baseman Scott Hawkins hit a home run in the game, moving into sole possession of fourth place on the all-time career home runs list at 34.

Starting pitcher Michael Cook took the loss to even up at 1-1 on the season. He went just 1 2/3 innings allowing seven hits, seven runs, six earned, on two strikeouts and one walk.

Blake Wascom pitched entered in relief in the second inning and went 2 2/3 innings, allowing two hits, four runs, all earned, on three walks and three strikeouts. Wascom hit two batters and allowed no extra base hits. Luke Wagley followed with three innings, allowing five hits and two runs, both earned, to go with three strikeouts and one walk. Randall Bulliard made a one-out appearance, pitching to just one batter in the bottom of the eighth.

For Southern Miss, Cody Schlagel picked up the win to move to 2-0 on the season.

Southern Miss again wasted no time getting the scoring started. With two on and no one out in the first, the Golden Eagles' leading hitter Brian Dozier smacked a two-RBI triple off the wall in right center. Dozier, hitting .577 on the season, scored two batters later on a slow-rolling ground ball to Kyle Bostick at second.

In the bottom of the second, the Eagles piled on four more runs, all off Cook and aided by an error by Greg Fontenot. Blake Wascom entered in relief with two down, and fanned his first batter to end the inning. In a repeat of Friday's action, the Golden Eagles led 7-0 after two complete.

Unlike Friday, the Cajuns did not wait until the eighth inning to get on the scoreboard. In the third, Fontenot singled in Brian Bowman with a fly ball that landed safely in right field. The Cajuns took the field in the bottom half trailing 7-1.

One run scored for Southern Miss on a Wascom wild pitch in the third to make it 8-1. In the bottom of the fourth, another run came home on a single in the bottom of the fourth.

In the fifth inning, Tyler Benzel got his first hit of the season with a leadoff single to left field, and advanced to third on Thad Griffen's double to center field, the Cajuns' third two-bagger of the series. Brian Bowman walked in the next at bat to load the bases with no outs for Alex Fuselier. Fuselier grounded into a fielder's choice at second, but picked up the RBI when Benzel scored on the play. Fontenot scored Griffen from third next with a single to right field to make it a 9-3 game, before Les Smith grounded into a 4-3 double play to end the rally.

Cajuns' pitcher Luke Wagley entered the game with one out in the bottom of the fifth, inheriting runners on second and third from Wascom. The two runners scored on a long single into right field to make the score 11-3 Eagles.

The Cajuns got back into the game in the top of the sixth with three runs on four hits. Scott Hawkins led the inning off with his second home run of the year. Then, with runners on the corners, Travis Whipple knocked a two-RBI double into right center to bring the score to 11-6 in the Cajuns' biggest inning since the second frame of Wednesday's loss to Southeastern Louisiana.

Wagley kept the Eagles scoreless in the sixth and seventh innings, but allowed two to cross in the eighth, prompting head coach Tony Robichaux to call on Randall Bulliard for the last out.

The series concludes at Pete Taylor Park in Hattiesburg at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Steve Peloquin again has the call on ESPN 1420 AM, and live statistics will be available from Southern Miss, accessible through the baseball schedule page on RaginCajuns.com.

NOTES:

· Alex Fuselier led the game off with a hit for the second straight game. He singled down the left field line on Friday and through the left side on Saturday.

· Scott Hawkins hit his second home run of the season, the 34^th of his career, to take sole possession of fourth place on the all-time career home runs list. He is one home run ahead of David Alvis (1982-85), one behind third-place Jonathan Lucroy (2005-07), two behind second-place Damian Grosse (1988-91), and five behind first-place Ron Robicheaux (1983-86).

· Sophomore Greg Fontenot is on a six-game hitting streak following his 3-for-4 outing today.

· Southern Miss has outscored its opponents 45-1 in the first three innings this year. The Cajuns became the first team to score on the Eagles before the sixth inning.

· Sophomore Tyler Benzel made his first appearance today as the search for an everyday DH continues. Benzel got his first hit of the season leading off the fifth inning with a single to left.

· SP Michael Cook hit 2B Taylor Walker with a pitch in the bottom of the second inning, making this the fifth of seven games in which the staff has hit a batter. The Cajuns have hit 15 total with a season-high six in game two of the Feb. 21 doubleheader with Nebraska.

· Cook walked the next batter, marking the third consecutive and fifth overall game in which the staff has walked or hit batters in back-to-back at bats.

· Brian Bowman stole his third base of the season in the third inning. He is 3-4 on the year.

LINE SCORE

Southern Miss 13, Louisiana 6 (Feb 28, 2009 at Hattiesburg, Miss)

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Louisiana........... 001 023 000  -  6 11  2      (1-5-1)

Southern Miss....... 341 120 02X  - 13 14  0      (7-0)

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Pitchers: Louisiana - Cook, Michael; Wascom, Blake(2); Wagley, Luke(5); Bulliard, Randall(8).

Southern Miss - Schlagel; Hester(6); Weathers(7); Cargill(9).

Win-Schlagel(2-0)  Loss-Cook, Michael(1-1)  T-3:12  A-3152

HR UL - Hawkins, Scott (2).

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