University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Southern Miss
Cajuns Drop Opener With USM
3/6/2010 3:30:00 AM | Baseball
Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns were held to five hits in the series opener with Southern Miss and fell to the Golden Eagles by a 4-0 count Friday evening at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field.
USM (6-3) plated single runs in each inning from the third through sixth and starting pitcher Todd McInnis did not allow Louisiana (5-3) to advance any runner past second base through eight innings.
The Cajuns suffered their second straight defeat, entering the series coming off a mid-week loss at Southeastern Louisiana.
The two teams will continue their three-game set on Saturday, March 6 at 2 p.m. Louisiana's Justin Robichaux (1-0, 0.00 ERA) will go up against Southern Miss' Scott Copeland (1-0, 3.46 ERA).
Zach Osborne collected his first decision of the season, but it was a hard-luck defeat. He went six innings allowing just two earned runs while striking out five.
Taylor Hubbell entered in relief and tossed three innings of two-hit baseball to keep the Golden Eagles within arm's reach down the stretch.
Louisiana had the game's first scoring opportunity after back-to-back, one-out singles from Alex Fuselier and Matt Goulas in the bottom of the first. McInnis ended the chance by striking out Jordan Poirrier and Chad Keefer in succession.
The Golden Eagles struck first with a two-out RBI single from Taylor Walker in the top of the third inning.
A leadoff single by Joey Archer blossomed into another run for USM in the fourth. An error on a chopper back to Osborne allowed Archer to advance to second base, and then a passed ball moved him over to third. He would score - an unearned run - when Adam Doleac dumped a single into shallow center field.
With runners on the corners and no outs, Osborne worked out of the jam recording an out on the next three at bats.
USM plated another unearned run in the fifth after an error by William Long with two outs kept the inning alive. On the next at bat, B.A. Vollmuth lofted an RBI single into shallow right field.
A sacrifice bunt moved Travis Graves into scoring position in the top of the sixth inning. With two outs, Walker's second RBI single of the evening capped off the scoring.
McInnis retired nine of the final 11 Cajuns he faced, sitting down UL in order in the seventh and eighth innings.
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
