University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
#25 Rice
Osborne's Gem Leads UL Past Rice
6/4/2010 10:36:00 PM | Baseball
Chad Keefer delivered a two-out RBI single to right field in the top of the eighth to plate Jordan Poirrier with the only run of Louisiana's 1-0 win over Rice in the opener of the Austin Regional Friday afternoon at Disch-Falk Field in Austin, Texas.
Zach Osborne retired six of the final seven Owls' hitters he faced to capture only the second complete game shutout in NCAA Championship play by a Cajuns pitcher and first since June 2002 when Andy Gros shutout LSU.
"It was definitely the biggest game of my life," Osborne said. "Earlier this year, I threw a one-hit shutout (vs. Troy), but that does not compare to this."
Osborne scattered five hits, struck out four and held the Owls to a 1-for-10 showing with runners on base. He forced a pair of groundouts and picked up a bases loaded strikeout the only three times Rice (38-22) had runners in scoring position.
"We had not thrown a shutout in NCAA postseason play since June of 2002," head coach Tony Robichaux remarked. "It would not be remarkable for him to throw a shutout, but to come in here and just believe that we are going to do that against a good hitting Rice team, it's just what he does."
Louisiana (38-20) advances to the winner's bracket final of the Austin Regional to face either Texas or Rider at 6:30 p.m., on Saturday. A win then and the Cajuns would advance to the regional championship game.
Keefer's heroics may not have been possible had Rice left fielder Michael Fuda not attempted to make a diving catch on a Kyle Olasin base hit into the left center gap. Because Fuda dove, and missed, Olasin was able to move up to second base putting him in scoring position.
Rice chose to intentionally walk Jordan Poirrier and because of that when Jared Rogers caught Olasin attempting to steal third base, Poirrier was able to move up to second base and UL still had a runner in scoring position for Keefer.
The aforementioned sequence was the first mistake made by either team that made the difference in an outstanding pitchers duel.
Rogers held the Cajuns to seven hits over eight innings and held his own keeping UL to just 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
Louisiana snapped a five-game losing streak to Rice and the shutout marked the 19th time this season the Cajuns held an opponent to two runs or fewer.
"Today was the epitome of the kind of club we are," Robichaux said. "We want to have good pitching, play good defense, and try and have timely hitting. Today was the epitome of that."
Osborne and Rogers were locked in through the first four innings. Rogers only faced two over the minimum and Osborne was at three over the minimum.
The offenses began to get traffic starting in the fifth, but Osborne and Rogers clamped down and held the scoreless tie.
UL collected back-to-back, one-out base hits in the fifth and sixth innings, but a double play ball from Rogers finished off the Cajuns in the fifth and a fly out and ground out concluded the sixth.
A pair of hit by pitches and a walk put Osborne in a jam in the sixth and would escape trouble by striking out Rathjen with the bases loaded.
Back-to-back singles by Steven Sultzbaugh and Chad Mozingo gave the Owls runners on the corners with two outs in the seventh. Osborne snagged a grounder by Jimmy Comerota to end the final threat he would face.
BASES NOTED: With the win, Louisiana picked up its 20th in NCAA Championships action...The crowd of 6,455 was the second-largest crowd the Cajuns have played in front of this season...Zach Osborne's complete-game shutout marked his 16th-straight start with at least 6.0 innings pitched...The complete-game shutout was his second of the season and the third of his career...Osborne's complete-game was his fifth of 2010, marking the first-time a UL pitcher has thrown five complete games since 2006...Chad Keefer (9 games), Jordan Poirrier (8 games) and Matt Goulas (6 games) all extended hitting streaks.
COMPLETE POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
Louisiana Head Coach Tony Robichaux
Opening Statement: Today was kind of the epitome of the kind of club we are. We want to have good pitching, and we want to play good defense, and we want to try and have timely hitting. Today was the epitome of that. Zach (Osborne) gave us good pitching, he had good defense behind him, and (Chad) Keefer got the timely hit. Zach has done this all year. He does not let the game get away from him. He manages the game almost like a manager throughout the ball game, so it is like having another coach out there on the mound. You have to give the Rice pitcher credit. He did a great job, too. We just got a timely hit, and that was enough to win.
On RHP Zach Osborne's performance today: We have not thrown a shutout since June of 2002. It would not be remarkable for him to throw a shutout, but to come in here and just believe that we are going to do that against a good hitting Rice team, it's just what he does. He keeps the ball down, changes speeds. He has excellent life and movement on his fastball, so it is so hard to square him up. Even though he gets tired, he still has run and movement.
Louisiana RHP Zach Osborne
On how he felt today: My arm felt great. The only thing that started getting tired were my legs. In between innings, going and sitting down and then trying to get back up and get my legs back under me was the only thing that was really bothering me.
On pitching in a game like this one: Whenever I run a game like that, I just really want to be out there. It is my game, so I just want to stay out there as long as I can.
On the pitching duel with Rice RHP Jared Rogers: He was a great pitcher, and he was giving us a lot of trouble. It makes me really have to be on my game, too, because I cannot afford to give up and run because it is a huge run if one does score. Our run won the ball game. In those kinds of games, you just have to keep them off the bases and get your hitters back in the dugout.
On whether this was the best game he has ever pitched: It was definitely the biggest game of my life. Earlier this year, I threw a one-game shutout, but that does not compare to this.
Louisiana C Chad Keefer
On RHP Zach Osborne's performance: Coach asked me how his velocity was doing, and he did not drop off at all. If anything, I am guessing Zach picked it up a little bit in later innings. A couple times we went out to the mound just to give him a little breather.
On people talking about seeing Texas and Rice in the final game: Don't leave us out. We got here, so we are here to play, just like they are.
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
