University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Florida Atlantic
Fontenot's RBI Double Clinches Opener
4/2/2011 2:00:00 AM | Baseball
The opening game of a Sun Belt series featuring the two teams that shared the 2010 regular season championship went to Louisiana by a 2-1 count Friday evening at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field.
Greg Fontenot provided the late-inning heroics for the Ragin' Cajuns (14-11, 4-3 Sun Belt) with an RBI double to right center that broke up a 1-1 tie in the seventh inning.
Fontenot's hit scored Alex Fuselier, who was hit by a Ryan Garton pitch with one out in the inning. Garton was tagged with the loss for the Owls (17-9, 5-2 Sun Belt) as Cajuns reliever Joey Satriano finished off a four inning relief effort to secure the victory.
Louisiana won for the sixth time in the past seven outings and extended their win streak at "The Tigue" to three games. The loss ended a six-game win streak for FAU and kept the Owls winless on the road in 2011.
The Ragin' Cajuns and Owls continue the series on Saturday at 6 p.m. UL will start Joe Zimmermann (0-2, 4.84 ERA) and FAU will send out Paul Davis (5-0, 1.30 ERA). The game is being broadcast on MyKLAF.
Fontenot's game-clincher was his second hit of the contest which locked down his team-leading ninth multi-hit game.
Mike Petello finished 2-for-4 extending his season-best hitting streak to eight games and Tyler Frederick also had a two-hit performance.
Satriano relieved starter Taylor Hubbell (5.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 5K) in the sixth inning and only allowed single hits in the sixth and ninth inning.
Garton lasted 6 1/3 innings for his second longest outing of the season and longest since March 4 vs. Monmouth. The Cajuns defeated Garton on Friday night for the second straight season (W, 9-3 on March 26, 2010).
Louisiana evened up the all-time series at 6-all and improved to 5-4 at "The Tigue" vs. Florida Atlantic. The two teams played a one-run contest for the third straight meeting (FAU won final two games of 2010 series by 4-3 counts).
Hubbell worked quickly through the Owls' first six batters, needing only 28 pitches to wrap up two innings of work.
Garton matched Hubbell in the first inning, but needed 21 pitches to do so and the Cajuns drove the pitch count up to 49 by the end of the second inning.
Garton's second inning wasn't as smooth, though, as the Cajuns managed to scratch across a run. Lance Marvel drew a one-out walk and with two outs stole second base. Frederick worked the count full then drove a single back up the middle to score Marvel for a 1-0 Cajuns lead.
Hubbell's bid for a third consecutive unscathed inning was spoiled by a bloop single to shallow center field by Raymond Church that scored Colby Gratton (hit by pitch).
FAU kept the Cajuns from regaining the lead in the bottom of the third as a strike thrown by Gratton from center field caught Jordan Bourque (leadoff single) attempting to score from second on a sharp single up the middle by Petello.
Hubbell snuffed out an Owls scoring chance in the fifth inning recovering from back-to-back singles to start the inning by notching two strikeouts, then deflecting a Church grounder to Jordan Poirrier to set up a putout at first base to end the inning.
Garton stranded Cajuns on first and third in the sixth inning, but the hit by pitch on Fuselier's at bat in the seventh was his most glaring mistake and Fontenot made him pay.
BASES NOTED: The Cajuns and Owls are meeting at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field for the third consecutive season...This weekend's series marks the first games outside the State of Florida for the Owls...Friday's game was only the third road game for FAU and first since March 15 (at Miami)...The Cajuns improved to 8-3 when scoring first...The Cajuns were involved in a one-run game for the 10th time, improving to 6-4 with the win...Mike Petello notched his eighth multi-hit game of the season, tying him with Jordan Poirrier for second-most on the squad...Taylor Hubbell recorded his 100th inning pitched in a Cajuns uniform after the first out was recorded in the top of the third inning...Louisiana held the opposition below five runs for the 17th time in 25 games...Joey Satriano's relief effort marked his third consecutive appearance of four-plus innings...This was Satriano's third scoreless relief outing and second-longest right behind the 4 1/3 innings pitched at LSU (March 22)...The Cajuns pitching staff lowered their ERA at "The Tigue" to 2.88 with Friday night's performance...Cajuns opponents are hitting a paltry .228 at "The Tigue"...UL's bullpen has worked 96 2/3 innings in 2011 and allowed 30 runs (29 earned)...Combined with Tuesday's effort of 8 1/3 innings of four-hit relief vs. Northwestern State, the bullpen's totals this week are 12 1/3 innings of six-hit baseball.
