University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Troy
Baseball Secures Series Win Over Troy
4/25/2009 9:30:00 PM | Baseball
TROY, Ala. ? The Ragin' Cajuns got another great start from their pitching staff, with Justin Robichaux pitching his way to a 6-1 Cajuns lead through seven and Luke Wagley securing a 6-2 victory with two frames of solid relief. The Cajuns solidified the series win, just their third of the season, as they move back to .500 at 20-20-1 overall and improve to 10-12 in the Sun Belt.
Robichaux went seven innings, allowing just one run, unearned, on four hits, two walks and a strikeout for the team's second stellar start of the weekend following Osborne's complete game shutout Friday night. Robichaux is now 1-1 on the year. Luke Wagley followed up with a solid relief effort, throwing two innings and allowing one unearned run on no hits, one walk and four strikeouts.
Travis Whipple kept the offense coming, going 3-for-4 on the night with two RBIs and a home run to bring his line this week to 5-for-9 with a double and a homer, three RBIs and three runs scored. He is now hitting .392 against conference opponents. The home run is the first for the Cajuns in seven games, as the lineup endured a six-game stretch starting with South Alabama during which no player went deep.
Thad Griffen joined the fun with his first RBIs in over a month, driving in two on the night. He last tallied an RBI on March 28 in an 11-7 loss at FIU. Griffen finished the night 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a double.
Kyle Olasin also drove in a pair on a double in four at bats, while Les Smith was 2-for-4 with a double.
Matt Goulas laid down his fifth sacrifice bunt of the year and Kyle Bostick put down his sixth, the Cajuns' 42nd and 43rd respectively. Louisiana was ranked 14th in the nation in sacrifice bunts in the last NCAA Division I statistical release.
The Troy Trojans have never won a series with the Ragin' Cajuns, and it will stay that way until at least next year. Louisiana is now 13-6 all time against the Trojans, who now have lost three straight for just the second time this year. UL moved ahead of South Alabama into sixth place in the Sun Belt with the win and a South Alabama loss to Middle Tennessee.
Robichaux retired his first five batters faced and held Troy to just one hit and no runs through four innings. In the fifth he gave up Troy's second hit on a leadoff bunt from Steven Felix. He became the first Trojan base runner to reach third later in the inning, but was stranded there as Robichaux retired the next three.
Robichaux kept the Trojans to three hits through six innings, but dropped a pop up to let leadoff hitter Brett Henry reach and go to second. He got a lineout next but a single from Ryan Detthardt scored the unearned run to break up the shutout. After getting out of the inning he was replaced by Luke Wagley.
Wagley entered for the eighth and kept the pitching strong, fanning all three batters of the inning. He walked the leadoff hitter in the ninth but recovered with a strikeout and a groundout, before a throwing error by Kyle Bostick cost a run. Wagley induced a pop up in the next at bat to end the game.
Kyle Olasin led off the game with a walk, advanced on a Matt Goulas sacrifice bunt, and came in on a Travis Whipple single up the middle to get the Cajuns off to a quick 1-0 lead in the first inning.
Thad Griffen singled in Kyle Bostick and Greg Fontenot in the second inning to make it 3-0 Cajuns heading to the bottom of the frame.
Travis Whipple smashed a solo home run, his seventh of the year, with two outs in the fifth, launching a shot over the 30-foot high scoreboard in the right field power alley at a depth of 380 feet. The home run gave the Cajuns a 4-0 lead.
In the sixth, Kyle Olasin threaded a two-out, two-RBI double down the left field line with the bases loaded to bump the Cajuns to a 6-0 lead.
The Cajuns finish the Troy series Sunday at 1 p.m. NewsRadio 105.1 KPEL FM has the broadcast both over the air and at KPEL1501.com, and RaginCajuns.com will provide live video as well as live statistics.
NOTES
· Matt Goulas' sacrifice bunt in the first was his fifth and the Cajuns' 42nd, while Kyle Bostick's in the second was his sixth and the Cajuns' 43rd. Louisiana ranks 14th nationally in sacrifice hits as of the last NCAA Division I statistical release, through games of April 19, 2009.
· Thad Griffen had his best outing since March 15, hitting 2-for-4 with two RBIs against Troy. On March 15, he was 2-for-4 with all three of the Cajuns' RBIs against FAU, though Louisiana lost the game 8-3. Two hits is a season high for Griffen, and he has matched the feat five other times.
· The Cajuns have doubled at least once in 26 of their last 27 games, including a 21-game stretch from March 14 to April 15. They got doubles from Kyle Olasin, Kyle Bostick, Les Smith and Thad Griffen against Troy tonight.
· The Cajuns finished the game with 10 hits for their 16th game in the last 23 with 10-plus hits.
· The Cajuns' pitching staff further dropped their ERA, allowing no earned runs on the night. Entering the weekend it was 5.30 and after Friday's win it was 5.16. Following today's win it has dropped to 5.04 and remains No. 1 in the conference, ahead of FIU's 5.21.
LINE SCORE
Louisiana 6, Troy Trojans 2 (Apr 25, 2009 at Troy, Ala.)
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Louisiana........... 120 012 000 - 6 10 3 (20-20-1, 10-12 Sun Belt)
Troy Trojans........ 000 000 101 - 2 4 0 (24-16, 11-7 Sun Belt)
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Pitchers: Louisiana - Robichaux, Justin; Wagley, Luke(8). Troy Trojans - Walls, Jason;
Hull, Drew(7).
Win-Robichaux, Justin(1-1) Loss-Walls, Jason(3-3) T-2:30 A-1344
HR UL - Whipple, Travis (7).
Weather: Clear, 83, Winds SE at 14 mph
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