University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
South Alabama
UL Completes Rally in Extras, Evens Series
4/24/2011 3:49:00 AM | Baseball
With the win Louisiana evened the Sun Belt series with South Alabama. The rubber match is set for Sunday at 1 p.m.
The game-winner by Strentz completed a come-from-behind victory for the Cajuns (22-18, 9-8 Sun Belt) who scored five times in the eighth inning to erase a 5-1 deficit only to have the Jaguars (22-17, 9-8 Sun Belt) even the score in the ninth to force extra innings.
Trailing 5-4 with the bases loaded in the eighth inning, Matt Goulas looped a single into right field to score Brian Bowman and Jordan Bourque and give UL a 6-5 lead.
The Jaguars put the Cajuns celebration on hold by plating the equalizing run on a run scoring double by Nolan Earley off of Caleb Kellogg in the ninth inning.
After an intentional walk loaded the bases to set up a double play, Joey Satriano forced Jordan Patterson to ground into a 3-2-3 double play and struck out Trey Sorrells to preserve the tie.
Satriano and USA reliever Collin Blakenship both stranded a runner in the 10th inning to post a zero and advance the game into an 11th inning.
Satriano survived an 11th inning test by notching three consecutive strikeouts after putting runners aboard by hitting Jake Overstreet and walking Earley.
Blakenship was one out from keeping the game alive in the bottom of the inning before the Cajuns mounted a two-out rally. Mike Petello and pinch hitter Chris Sinclair drove ground balls through the infield giving the Cajuns runners on the corners.
Strentz worked the count full and on the sixth pitch of the at bat ripped a single into right field - his first hit of the game ending a string of three straight at bats with a strikeout - and Petello scored the winning tally.
Satriano worked three full innings and picked up his third win of the season, improving to 3-2. Blakenship took the loss and fell to 2-2.
Louisiana was led at the plate by Petello who finished 4-for-6 marking his first four-hit game in a Cajuns uniform. Greg Fontenot was the other Cajun with a multiple-hit game going 3-for-6. It was the 14th multi-hit game for both players, tops on the team.
The Cajuns moved into a three-way with South Alabama and FIU for fourth place in the Sun Belt standings. The squad remains four games behind league-leader Troy as the Trojans posted a 11-3 win over Western Kentucky.
A two-out single up the middle by Brent Tanner in the first inning brought home Logan Kirkland (leadoff walk) with the first run of the game.
USA extended the lead and chased Joe Zimmermann from the mound in the third inning. Three consecutive base hits beginning with an Overstreet bunt single to lead off the inning and ending with a Tanner RBI single put USA on top 2-0 and ended Zimmermann's night.
The Jaguars added a run off of Chase Traffica as Patterson filed out to left field for a sacrifice that scored Earley.
A Patterson two-out double in the fifth inning made Traffica pay for a two-out walk to Tanner as it added another run to the USA runs column increasing the lead to 4-0.
USA staring pitcher Dustin Crenshaw, who stranded runners on first and third in the first inning, retired 12 of the 14 Cajuns he faced from the second through fifth inning.
A leadoff double by Fontenot in the bottom of the sixth was followed up by a Jordan Poirrier single back up the middle of the infield and the Cajuns picked up their first run off of Crenshaw.
USA picked a run back up in the seventh inning in a bases loaded situation as Patterson bounced a grounder to first base and White was able to score as Frederick's throw to home pulled Strentz off the bag. Traffica induced a 5-2-3 double play ball from Sorrells to keep the deficit at 5-1.
BASES NOTED: With the win Louisiana extended the string of consecutive Sun Belt series without being swept by the opposition to 19, a streak which dates back to April 2009...Alex Fuselier has hit safely in 20 of the last 22 games he's played...In his last five relief appearances Chase Traffica has allowed six runs and 15 hits over 20 innings of work...In Sun Belt play, Traffica is 1-0 with a 2.51 ERA in 14 1/3 innings and has held opponents to five runs and nine hits...The five runs scored by Louisiana in the eighth inning marked the 27th three-run inning allowed by opponents...The two double plays turned by the Cajuns increased the season total to 38 (17 in Sun Belt play).
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
