Baseball Ends Regular Slate With A Bang

NEW ORLEANS ? One word sums up the regular season finale for Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns: marquee. Not only did head coach Tony Robichaux reach 800 career victories, but the Cajuns set a new school record and numerous season highs as they rocketed past UNO with an 18-2 victory Saturday at Maestri Field. With the help of a South Alabama loss, UL clinched fifth place in the Sun Belt regular season standings with a 25-28-1 overall record and 14-15 mark in league action.

Head coach Tony Robichaux entered the season with 775 career victories, 25 wins away from 800. His 800-535-1 career record represents a .599 winning percentage, and includes 537 wins at UL and 263 wins at McNeese State.

The Cajuns posted season highs in runs, hits (22) and home runs (five), and set a new school record in double plays with six in the win.

Louisiana turned a double play in each of the first five innings plus one in the ninth. Six double plays beats the previous mark of five set in 1979 and tied once, earlier this season in an 8-7, 11-inning victory over Stephen F. Austin on April 14 in Lafayette.

In the first inning, it was a 9-3 double play as Les Smith tracked down a fly ball and doubled up a Privateer runner at first. In the second it was a more routine 5-4-3, Benzel-Bostick-Hawkins turn. In the third, Fontenot started a 6-4-3 double play and did it once again in the fourth. He earned an assist and a putout on the fifth in the fifth inning, fielding a grounder, stepping on second and gunning to first on a 6-3 turn. In the ninth inning, Greg Harmon snagged a line drive for one and threw to first to double up the runner for two.

Louisiana starting pitcher Mike Cook gave the Cajuns their third solid start of the weekend, maintaining a three-hit shutout through the seventh inning, thanks in large part to the tremendous defensive effort put up behind him, as five of the double plays were executed with him on the mound. Cook finished 6 1/3 innings, responsible for two runs, both earned, on five hits, four walks and two strikeouts. He improved to 5-3 on the season with the win.

Greg Harmon inherited a 3-1 count and runners on second and third from Cook in the seventh, and threw one ball to charge a walk to Cook and then one of his own to force a run home before settling down to get two fly outs. Harmon eventually finished 2 2/3 innings without allowing a run, on four hits, one walk and three strikeouts.

All but one Cajun tallied at least one hit, and all but two of those had multiple hits. Greg Fontenot and Matt Goulas led the team with four RBIs each. Fontenot went 4-for-5 with three runs scored, while Matt Goulas was 2-for-5 with one run scored. Chad Keefer went 3-for-6 with one RBI and two runs scored, while Scott Hawkins was 3-for-6 with three runs scored. Thad Griffen, Les Smith and Kyle Olasin each had two RBIs, Griffen on 1-for-1 hitting with a pinch hit home run, Smith with two solo home runs in a 2-for-6 day, and Olasin on a 2-for-5 day. Alex Fuselier rounded it out with a 2-for-4 outing.

Louisiana saw five home runs in the game. Matt Goulas cranked a second inning, two-run bomb and Greg Fontenot hit a three-run homer in the third as part of a five-run outburst. Les Smith had home runs to opposite sides of the field with one in the eighth to right field and one in the ninth that hit the left field foul pole. Thad Griffen had the fifth with a ninth-inning blast to left field.

The Cajuns started the scoring in the first inning after a one-out walk to Alex Fuselier. He stole second and came around to score on an RBI single by Chad Keefer.

Greg Fontenot was hit by a pitch to lead off the second inning. Kyle Bostick singled on a bunt to the third base side, but UNO starting pitcher Corey Myers threw the ball to the wall in right field foul territory. Greg Fontenot motored from first around third base and slid in just before a throw to the plate to score UL's second run, while Bostick advanced to third. Matt Goulas then knocked one over the right field fence for two runs to make a 4-0 lead heading to the bottom of the second.

After back-to-back one-out base hits in the third from Chad Keefer and Scott Hawkins, Greg Fontenot muscled a home run to left-center field for three runs to break the game wide open at 7-0. Kyle Bostick tacked a double on to make it four straight hits. Tyler Benzel lined out to centerfield before Kyle Olasin ripped a single into left field, Bostick coming around to score as the catcher dropped the ball trying to tag him out at home. Matt Goulas then added his third RBI of the day with a single to left field to score Olasin, and Alex Fuselier singled to the same spot to make it a seven hit inning. The Cajuns scored five runs to take a commanding 9-0 lead on UNO moving to the bottom of the third.

Scott Hawkins hit a one-out double off the wall in left-center field in the fourth and eventually came around to score on a Kyle Bostick sacrifice fly to make it a 10-0 game.

UNO threatened for the first time in the game with runners on first and third for Ro Jones with one out in the seventh. He roped one just inside the bag at third to score Jerad Comarda from third and finally put UNO on the board. After putting runners on second and third, Cook went down 3-1 to Justin Edwards before exiting for Harmon. He threw one pitch, a ball, to load the bases with a walk that ended up being charged to Cook before throwing one of his own to force a run home, though that run was Cook's and was charged to him. A fly out to Bostick ended the inning, but not before UNO added two to make it a 10-2 game.

Louisiana struck back in the top of the eighth as Les Smith cranked his solo home run over the right field wall, giving the Cajuns a run back to go to the bottom of the frame leading 11-2.

With runners on first and second in the top of the ninth, Kyle Olasin lined a single into right field to score Greg Fontenot from second, and Matt Goulas followed with a sacrifice fly to score Benzel from third in the next at bat. Thad Griffen then stepped to the plate with one on and launched a moon shot to left field for a two-run home run. Les Smith continued the onslaught with a home run that struck the left field foul pole. Later in the inning, Scott Hawkins scored from third on a wild pitch to complete the Cajuns' seven-run inning to make it an 18-2 game.

Now that the regular season is complete, the Cajuns look forward to beginning the Sun Belt in Troy, Ala. on the campus of host Troy University. Thanks to South Alabama's loss to Troy, UL finishes the regular season ranked fifth in the Sun Belt. As the fifth seed, Louisiana will play fourth seed FIU in the tournament's opening game at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, May 20.

NOTES

· The Ragin' Cajuns accomplished an odd feat, turning a double play in each of the first five innings. Their six total double plays breaks a school record originally set in 1979, tied earlier this season on April 14, in an 8-7, 11-inning victory over Stephen F. Austin.

· Head coach Tony Robichaux earned his 800th career victory with the win.

· The Cajuns hit five home runs in the game, the most since five against McNeese State on April 8, 2009.

· The team set season highs in hits (22), runs (18) and home runs (five). The last time the Cajuns hit five home runs was against McNeese State on April 9, 2008. The hit and run totals are the most since 24 runs and 28 hits against UALR on May 12, 2008.

LINE SCORE

Louisiana 18, New Orleans 2 (May 16, 2009 at New Orleans, La.)

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Louisiana........... 135 100 017  - 18 22  1      (25-28-1, 14-15 Sun Belt)

New Orleans......... 000 000 200  -  2  9  4      (22-33, 12-18 Sun Belt)

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Pitchers: Louisiana - Cook, Michael; Harmon, Gregory(7). New Orleans - Myers, C.;

DeGrouttola(2); White, D.(3); Verdin, R.(4); Burch, D.(5); Brown, M.(9); Mattson, M.(9).

Win-Cook, Michael(5-3)  Loss-Myers, C.(2-8)  T-2:57  A-289

HR UL - Goulas, Matt (5); Griffen, Thad (4); Smith, Les 2 (8); Fontenot, Greg (2).

-www.RaginCajuns.com-

Baseball Ends Regular Slate With A Bang

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