University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Nicholls State
Close Play Turns Tide in the Ninth
2/24/2011 2:50:00 AM | Baseball
In a game dominated by pitching it was a close play at second base in the bottom of the ninth inning that turned the tide for Nicholls State in a 3-2 Colonels victory over Louisiana Wednesday evening at Ray Didier Field in Thibodaux.
With the Colonels leadoff hitter Beau Faulk reaching base to lead off the inning, Tyler Frederick attempted to make the force play on the lead runner on a sacrifice bunt attempt by Scott Moseley. It was ruled that Faulk beat the throw giving Nicholls two on with on outs.
Two batters later with Faulk on third base and one out - instead of two outs - Mace Krol launched a sacrifice fly to left field to score Faulk and break a 2-all tie.
The win snapped the Cajuns' seven-game winning streak over the Colonels (2-3) and allowed Nicholls to split the midweek, home-and-home series
The Cajuns (2-3) return to "The Tigue" this weekend for a three-game series with Siena (0-3). The series begins Friday at 6 p.m.
Randall Bulliard, who relieved Cajuns starter Jordan Nicholson in the eight inning, took the hard-luck defeat. Nicholson tossed seven strong innings striking out seven and allowing no earned runs, but had to settle or the no decision in his UL debut.
Donnie White pitched hitless relief for the Colonels in the eighth and ninth innings and collected the victory. Starter Dalton Torres surrendered two earned runs on three hits over four innings then the Nicholls bullpen hled the Cajuns scoreless and hitless over the final five innings.
Prior to the run plated by the Colonels in the ninth inning both pitching staffs held both lineups without a hit from the sixth through eighth innings.
The Cajuns took advantage of Torres' inability to locate the strike zone in the second inning to plate a run. In addition to a hit by pitch on an at bat by Nichols that began the inning, Torres issued three walks with the last coming with Bowman at the plate and the bases loaded.
A one-out error by Fontenot opened the door for a pair of unearned runs to cross the plate for the Colonels in the third inning. Lyons reached on the error then on a Comer bunt single the Cajuns had him picked off attempting to round third, but interference was called allowing Lyons to score and tie the game at 1-all.
The error allowed the inning to be alive when Hill came to the plate and he delivered a sacrifice fly to center field which scored Comer and give Nicholls a 2-1 lead.
UL pulled even in the top half of the fourth on a Goulas double to left field. Goulas' extra bagger plated Bourque who led off the inning with a bunt single.
BASES NOTED: Wednesday's game was the 117th meeting all-time between the Cajuns and Colonels, the fifth-most played series in school history...Jordan Nicholson held the Colonels scoreless in the first inning, marking the first time this season that UL held the opposition scoreless in the opening frame...Greg Fontenot and Tyler Frederick were held hitless, snapping a four-game hitting streak for both batters...Louisiana is now 18-11 vs. Nicholls State in the Tony Robichaux Era...The Cajuns lead the all-time series with Nicholls by a 66-50-1 count...UL dropped a game to Nicholls for the first time since May 17, 2005, an 8-6 defeat at Ray Didier Field.
LINE SCORE
Nicholls State 3, Louisiana 2 (Feb 23, 2011 at Thibodaux, La.)
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Louisiana........... 010 100 000 - 2 3 2 (2-3)
Nicholls State...... 002 000 001 - 3 6 2 (2-3)
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Pitchers: Louisiana - Nicholson, Jordan; Bulliard, Randall(8) and Sinclair, Chris.
Nicholls State - Torres, Dalton; Norton, Ryan(5); Baxter, Michael(6); Poche, Corey(7);
White, Donnie(8) and Dufrene, Cody; Dennis, Jason.
Win-White, Donnie(1-0) Loss-Bulliard, Randall(0-1) T-2:11 A-530
Weather: 74, SSE @ 14 MPH, Cloudy
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
