University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Middle Tennessee
Cajuns Season Ends In Sun Belt Semis
5/23/2009 7:45:00 PM | Baseball
TROY, Ala. ? Luke Wagley was
excellent in relief, but the Ragin' Cajuns offense could not overcome an early
deficit to prevent Middle Tennessee from ending Louisiana's season in the Sun
Belt Conference Tournament Semifinals by a final score of 6-2.
The
Ragin' Cajuns will end the season at 27-30-1 overall and 14-15 in Sun Belt
action, after finishing fifth in the final regular season standings and pulling
off upsets in their first two games of the league tournament with wins over No.
4 FIU (11-3) and No. 1 Middle Tennessee (5-4). The Cajuns were then rematched
with the Raiders, who won an elimination game with FAU and then a Friday
semifinal with the Cajuns (17-8) and this Saturday semifinal elimination game.
The
season included two broken records, including Scott Hawkins' 42 home runs to
become the all-time school career leader in the category, and 65 double plays
to set a new single-season record.
Starting
pitcher Greg Wilborn pitched 2 2/3 innings, allowing seven hits to score six
runs, though only two of them were earned. Two errors in the field by Greg Fontenot plus a missed opportunity on a double play ball by Kyle Bostick helped
account for the unearned runs. Wilborn threw one walk and no strikeouts in his
start.
Luke Wagley entered in the third and pitched the rest of the in excellent fashion,
going 5 1/3 innings while allowing just three hits to a powerful Blue Raider
offense while striking out four and walking none.
The
Cajuns offense never got into a rhythm, mustering only four hits and two runs
against no Middle Tennessee errors. After scoring two runs in the third, the
lineup was quiet as Middle Tennessee scored three runs in the first, two in the
second and one in the third.
Only
Greg Fontenot, Kyle Bostick, Thad Griffen and Kyle Olasin registered base hits
against four different Middle Tennessee pitchers, and Les Smith and Chad Keefer
each registered an RBI despite going home hitless.
Nathan
Hines led the Blue Raiders off in the bottom of the first by reaching on a Kyle Bostick error, and would later score when Bryce Brentz hit an RBI infield
single to Greg Fontenot. Two groundouts, including one that was a surefire
double play until Bostick had trouble picking it up, drove one run in before a
passed ball charged to catcher Thad Griffen allowed another to score. The
Raiders struck for three runs in their first turn on two hits and one Cajuns
error, as none of the runs were earned.
Middle
Tennessee struck again in the bottom of the second, this time it was right
fielder Stuart Meinhart driving in two on a single that just got under Fontenot's
glove to spill into the outfield. At the end of two Middle Tennessee led 5-0.
The
Ragin' Cajuns finally caught a break in the top of the third, when they scored
a run on just one hit. Thad Griffen laced a one-out single through the infield,
and Kyle Olasin, Alex Fuselier and Les Smith all drew walks to force a run in.
Chad Keefer then earned his team-leading seventh sacrifice fly to get the
second run of the inning.
With
one down and a runner on third, the Cajuns' defense stepped back up with yet
another double play, the 66th of the year, as he just got to a line drive to the
5-6 hole, diving to catch the ball and flipping it to Benzel just in time to
double up the runner and end the threat.
From
there on out, pitching took over and each team was scoreless the rest of the
game.
LINE SCORE
Middle Tennessee 6, Louisiana 2 (May 23, 2009 at Troy, Alabama)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Louisiana........... 002 000 000 - 2 4 2 (27-30-1)
Middle Tennessee.... 321 000 00X - 6 10 0 (42-16)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pitchers: Louisiana - Wilborn, Greg; Wagley, Luke(3). Middle Tennessee - Coley, Chad;
Stoltz, Jud(3); Guidry, Justin(5); Smalley, Brett(7); Brentz, Bryce(8).
Win-Guidry, Justin(4-2) Loss-Wilborn, Greg(3-4) T-2:39 A-732
Weather: Showers, 73, ENE 8 mph
Game notes:
Game 13 of Sun Belt Championships
Middle Tennessee (42-16) advances to championship game on Sunday
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