Baseball Takes Final Midweek Home Game

LAFAYETTE, La. ? The Ragin' Cajuns baseball team is back to .500 at 21-21-1 following a win over McNeese State Tuesday night at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field, making it a two-game season sweep over the Cowboys with a 4-1 win. UL previously took a 10-2 decision over McNeese State on March 17 in Lake Charles, La.

The highlight of the night was sturdy pitching, as freshman Matt Lackie gave the Cajuns another solid midweek start. He pitched his longest outing of the season at 5 2/3 innings to acquire the win and move to 2-1 on the season, allowing five hits to score one run, earned, on four walks and a season-high seven strikeouts.

Blake Haagen followed up with 2 1/3 innings of steady relief, tagged for just one hit and no runs while earning three strikeouts and walking one. Luke Wagley pitched the last inning for his third save of the season, retiring all three batters he faced on just eight pitches.

The Ragin' Cajuns were held hitless through three innings by Lafayette native and Comeaux High School graduate Jordan LeGros. In the game, the Cajuns scored their four runs on just three hits, the second lowest hit total of the season. Only Travis Whipple, Les Smith and Alex Fuselier registered base hits, a single, double and triple respectively, and Whipple and Smith each picked up RBIs on their knocks. Thad Griffen nearly made it a team cycle with a smash just inside the left field foul pole in the second, but Cowboy outfielder Andy Riche' reached over the wall and brought it back to rob him of the home run.

One of the Cajuns runs was unearned, as Chad Keefer reached on an error and came around to score in the sixth.

McNeese State put the first run on the board in the top of the fifth, when Nick Eubanks scored from second on a Steven Irvine single.

The Cajuns scratched the board when Alex Fuselier tripled and came home on a wild pitch in the bottom of the fifth. Kyle Olasin and Greg Fontenot both reached next, coming home on a Travis Whipple sacrifice fly and a Les Smith double respectively. Louisiana left the fifth inning with a 3-1 lead.

In the sixth inning, Chad Keefer reached and got to second on an error, advanced to third on a Kyle Bostick sacrifice bunt and scored on a wild pitch. The run gave the Cajuns a 4-1 advantage going to the seventh.

Greg Fontenot made one of the best defensive plays of the season when he ranged far to his right on a ground ball between third and short, got to the ball, spun and made a long distance throw to first from the edge of the outfield grass to get the batter and keep a runner from scoring on the play in the eighth inning.

The Cajuns travel to Natchitoches, La., to take on Northwestern State University on Wednesday night in a 6:30 p.m. matchup. SportsRadio ESPN 1420 AM has the action over the air and online at ESPN1420.com, and RaginCajuns.com will have live statistics available.

NOTES

· The Cajuns' three hits qualify as the second-lowest hit total of the season. Ironically, the lowest hit total of two came in a 2-1 win over Nebraska on Feb. 21, the second game of the season.

· With Les Smith's RBI double and Alex Fuselier's triple, the Cajuns have now had at least one extra base hit in 28 of their last 29 games.

· In the last statistical release (April 26, 2009), the Cajuns were ranked 31st in NCAA Division I baseball in triples with 15, and Alex Fuselier bumped that total up to 16 with his three-bagger. The team was also ranked 14th in the nation in sacrifice bunts with 43, and Greg Fontenot and Kyle Bostick each added one more tonight. Fontenot's eight sacrifices through April 26 ranked him 42nd in the nation, and he is now up to nine. Les Smith also had eight sac bunts and was tied with Fontenot in the national rankings.

· The Cajuns' 21-21-1 record marks the sixth time the Cajuns have been .500.

· The Cajuns have now defeated McNeese State in their last seven meetings, and nine of the last 10.

· The attendance figure of 2,885 for the game is the highest total of the season. On average, 2,162 fans have attended home games at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field this year, a figure which would be good for 25th in NCAA Division I by 2008's standards.

· The Cajuns' team ERA dropped again from 5.22 to 5.12, enough to put the staff back into first place in the Sun Belt Conference, as FIU's previously No. 1 mark rose to 5.35 following a thrashing from Florida Gulf Coast in an 8-4 loss Tuesday night.

· Head coach Tony Robichaux now stands just four victories away from his 800th career victory with 796.

LINE SCORE

Louisiana 4, McNeese State 1 (Apr 28, 2009 at Lafayette, La.)

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McNeese State....... 000 010 000  -  1  6  2      (19-22)

Louisiana........... 000 031 00X  -  4  3  0      (21-21-1)

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Pitchers: McNeese State - LeGros, Jordan; Brown, Trey(5); Holstein, Scott(5). Louisiana -

Lackie, Matthew; Haagen, Blake(6); Wagley, Luke(9).

Win-Lackie, Matthew(2-1)  Save-Wagley, Luke(3)  Loss-Brown, Trey(0-1)  T-2:39  A-2885

Weather: 76F, 80% hum, m cloudy, ENE 2

-www.RaginCajuns.com-

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