University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
UALR
Ragin' Cajuns Win Big Over UALR
3/20/2009 5:00:00 AM | Baseball
LAFAYETTE ? The aluminum was
hot Friday night for the second straight game, as the Ragin' Cajuns baseball
team rolled to an 11-1 victory over Sun Belt opponent UALR, thanks to some big
sticks, confident defense, and another effective outing from freshman hurler
Alex Fuselier.
It
all came together for Tony Robichaux's squad, with 14 hits to score
double-digits for the second game in the row, no errors, and impressive
pitching. The game was the 1,300th of Robichaux's career as a head
coach, and M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field's 700th win as the home of the
Cajuns. Louisiana moved to 8-9-1 overall and 2-4 in Sun Belt action, while UALR dropped to 7-11 overall and 3-4 in conference play.
UL
had big help from Les Smith (3-5) and Thad Griffen (2-5), who both smacked home
runs in the game, the third and fourth of their seasons respectively. Smith's
jack scored two runs, and Griffen added another RBI in the eighth to join
Smith, Scott Hawkins (2-4) and Matt Goulas (1-4) in the two-RBI category.
Kyle Olasin (1-4) and Kyle Bostick (1-3) provided a run each to round out the list
of Cajuns with RBIs.
Alex Fuselier provided another great outing from the mound in his first weekend
start, pitching his way through seven complete innings, allowing one run,
earned, on just one hit, four walks, and four strikeouts. He earned the win to
move to 2-0 on the season.
Blake Wascom took over for the last two innings, allowing only one hit while walking
no one and striking out three batters in lock-down relief.
UALR's
Jake Sullivan took the loss in 6 1/3 innings, allowing eight runs, all earned,
on 11 hits, two walks, and six strikeouts. Alex Smith threw 1 2/3 innings,
allowing three unearned runs on three hits, one walk, and three strikeouts.
The
Cajuns opened the scoring in the bottom of the first with a Scott Hawkins
single into center field, scoring Matt Goulas from second.
Both
teams were then scoreless until Louisiana plated three in the bottom of the
fourth. On four straight singles to open the inning, from Chad Keefer, Les Smith,
Kyle Bostick (RBI) and Kyle Olasin (RBI), followed by a Matt Goulas RBI groundout.
Les Smith padded the lead with his two-run home run to right field in the next
inning, upping the Cajuns' lead to 6-0.
In
the bottom of the seventh, Goulas earned his second RBI with a sacrifice fly to
left field, scoring Olasin from third.
The
Trojans logged their first run off of Fuselier in the top of the seventh when
catcher Jack Larner singled in Josh Marazzito, taking advantage of two straight
walks off the southpaw.
Thad Griffen answered the run when he struck his solo homer to right field in the
bottom of the seventh.
Louisiana
picked up three unearned runs in the eighth. Goulas reached on an error in what
would have been an inning-ending groundout, and scored on a Scott Hawkins
double. Hawkins scored on a wild pitch, the same pitch that allowed Travis Whipple to reach on a dropped third strike. Thad Griffen added his second RBI
in the next at bat, scoring Whipple on a single to left.
The
series continues Saturday with Game 2, first pitch set for 2 p.m. Tune into
SportsRadio ESPN 1420-AM on the radio or MyKLAF-TV on television (Cox 13) to
catch the broadcast, and track live statistics and watch live video on
RaginCajuns.com.
NOTES
· Friday's victory is
win No. 700 in the history of M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field. The stadium was opened
in 1978, and dedicated as Moore Field in 1979. In 1995, the facility was
rededicated to M.L. “Tigue” Moore. The Cajuns posted their 12th
straight winning season at “The Tigue” in 2008, and Tony Robichaux has helmed
308 wins in the confines of one of Louisiana's most beloved baseball
facilities.
· Friday's game was the
1,300th career game for head coach Tony Robichaux. He spent eight
seasons as the head coach at McNeese State, racking up the winningest record in
school history at 263-177 overall. Robichaux is also UL's all-time winningest
coach at 520-339-1 in his fifteenth season in control. He now stands just 17
wins away from 800 career victories as a head coach.
· UL breaks a three-game
losing streak in Sun Belt play with Friday's win. The streak stretches back to
a March 8 loss to Arkansas State in Jonesboro, Ark.
· The Cajuns committed
zero errors for the fifth time in six games.
LINE SCORE
Louisiana 11, UALR 1 (Mar 20, 2009 at Lafayette, La.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
UALR................ 000 000 100 - 1 5 3 (7-11, 3-4)
Louisiana........... 100 321 13X - 11 14 0 (8-9-1, 2-4)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pitchers: UALR - Sullivan, Jake; Smith, Alex(7). Louisiana - Fuselier, Alex; Wascom, Blake(8).
Win-Fuselier, Alex(2-0) Loss-Sullivan, Jake(3-2) T-2:32 A-2374
HR UL - Griffen, Thad (4); Smith, Les (3).
Weather: 74, clear, wind from N 9 mph
