University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
UALR
Cajuns Secure First Sun Belt Series Win
3/21/2009 5:00:00 AM | Baseball
The game was
the third in a row that the Cajuns have won by at least eight runs following
Friday's 11-1 victory over the Trojans and Tuesday's 10-2 win at McNeese State.
With the win, the Cajuns moved to 9-9-1 overall and 3-4 in Sun Belt Conference
action. UALR fell to 7-12 overall and 3-5 in SBC play. The win also means that
Louisiana will be at least 2-1 in this weekend's action, representing the first
Sun Belt weekend series win of the season following a 1-2 weekend at Arkansas
State March 13-15 and a 0-2 series with FAU last week.
Les Smith
(.293) led a Cajuns lineup that has recently turned on the big sticks. He fell
a single short of hitting for the cycle while loading up with five RBI, the
most in any single game by a Cajun this season, on a 3-for-4 outing with a home
run, a triple, a double, and a walk for good measure. Smith now leads the team
in RBI with 17.
As a team,
the Cajuns posted 14 hits in the effort, their ninth double-digit total of the
season and second straight, while holding UALR to seven to overcome three
errors. UALR was charged for four errors.
Blake Haagen
was tabbed for his first weekend start of the year after a shakeup to the
starting rotation, but left the game after just two innings having allowed four
runs, two earned, on three hits, three walks and a strikeout. Zach Osborne
(1-2), displaced from his role as Friday starter in the rotation change,
entered in long relief and doused the UALR lineup. He took the win in seven
innings, allowing just four hits to produce one run, earned, on only one walk
and four strikeouts.
Matt Goulas
kept performing well in just his third game of the season since returning from
offseason surgery, going 3-for-5 at the plate with three RBI to his credit.
Thad Griffen reached on an error in the first but drove in a run on the play,
then notched a sacrifice fly to score another, and then walked with the bases
loaded for one more, going 0-for-3 on the day but earning three RBI.
Scott Hawkins also drove in a run for the Cajuns on 2-for-4 hitting. Kyle Olasin went
3-for-6 and crossed the plate three times, while Alex Fuselier, Greg Fontenot,
Kyle Bostick all notched a hit.
UALR's Sean
Potter (2-3) shouldered the loss, allowing the go-ahead run across in the
fourth inning on one hit and one walk. He left without recording an out, after
relieving UALR starter Adam Champion with the bases loaded.
The Cajuns
scored first with a run in the bottom of the opening frame, but gave up four
runs in the second and one in the third to go down 5-1. They made up one run in
the bottom of the third before exploding for four in the fourth to go ahead for
good, anchored by a Smith two-run double.
The Cajuns
posted two more in the fifth on Matt Goulas' two-RBI single up the middle,
before notching another two runs in the sixth on Smith's two-run home run to
right-center field to make it 10-5.
The scoring
ended with three runs in the seventh, starting with a Goulas RBI single,
followed by Hawkins' RBI double and a Smith RBI triple.
Sunday's 1
p.m. series finale will be telecast on MyKLAF-TV (Cox 13) and broadcast over
the air on NewsRadio 105.1 KPEL-FM as well as on the Net at KPEL1051.com. Track
live statistics and watch live video from anywhere on the planet at
RaginCajuns.com, your home for Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns baseball.
NOTES
· The Cajuns had three
errors for the third time this season, matching a season-high set on Feb. 21 in
Game 2 of the Nebraska doubleheader and equaled last Sunday, March 15, versus
FAU in Game 2 of the series.
· The Cajuns' 13 runs
matches the high-water mark of the season, set originally vs. Texas Southern on
March 4.
LINE SCORE
Louisiana 13, UALR 5 (Mar 21, 2009 at Lafayette, La.)
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UALR................ 041 000 000 - 5 7 4 (7-12, 3-5)
Louisiana........... 101 422 30X - 13 14 3 (9-9-1, 3-4)
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Pitchers: UALR - Champion, Adam; Potter, Sean(4); Boling, JR(4); Welch, Brandon(7). Louisiana -
Haagen, Blake; Osborne, Zach(3).
Win-Osborne, Zach(1-2) Loss-Potter, Sean(2-3) T-2:55 A-2566
HR UL - Smith, Les.
Weather: 76, mostly sunny, wind NNE 4
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