University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Florida Atlantic
UL Takes Control Early and Lands Series Win
4/3/2011 2:00:00 AM | Baseball
Louisiana pushed across three runs in the first inning to establish control of the middle game of the Florida Atlantic series and never looked back in posting a 6-2 victory Saturday evening at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field in front a crowd of 3,391.
The win secured the series victory for Louisiana (15-11, 5-3 Sun Belt). It's the first road series defeat for Florida Atlantic (17-10, 5-3 Sun Belt) since April 24-26, 2009 at Western Kentucky.
UL goes for the sweep on Sunday as T.J. Geith (2-2, 4.56 ERA) takes the mound against R.J. Alvarez (3-1, 3.90 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 11:30 a.m.
The Cajuns lit up the scoreboard during their first at bat in what turned out to be a five run attack over three innings against FAU ace pitcher Paul Davis who entered the game with a 1.30 ERA and only six earned runs allowed in 41 2/3 innings.
Alex Fuselier drove a home run over the right field wall to lead off the bottom of the first inning and give the Cajuns a quick 1-0 lead.
After an infield single by Greg Fontenot the Cajuns took advantage of Davis' inability to find the strike zone. Mike Petello drew a one-out walk then Daniel Nichols drew a walk with two outs to load the bases. Tyler Frederick delivered the timely hit as he drove a single to right field to plate Fontenot and Petello upping the lead to 3-0.
The first inning was a heavy workload for Davis as he unleashed 40 pitches before returning to the dugout.
Cajuns starter Joe Zimmerman, who escaped a bases loaded jam in the first inning, posted zeros in the second and third innings and the offense rewarded him with two additional insurance runs in the bottom half of the third.
UL ripped off four consecutive base hits off of Davis to extend the advantage to 5-0. A Jordan Poirrier leadoff single and Petello ground-rule double was followed by singles from Lance Marvel and Nichols that plated the runs.
Davis was pulled after the third inning and was tagged with his first loss of the season (entered 5-0). He surrendered five earned runs and seven base hits.
The Owls plated their first run on a Raymond Church sacrifice fly in the fourth inning. UL answered back in the bottom of the frame stringing together three consecutive one-out singles, the latter from Fontenot to drive home Jordan Bourque.
Zimmermann worked into the sixth inning before Caleb Kellogg relieved him with one out and tossed the final 3 2/3 innings for the save. Kellogg, coming off the two inning save against Northwestern State on Tuesday, notched his second save of the week.
Zimmermann picked up his first win in a Cajuns uniform in what turned out to be his longest outing of the season. In 5 1/3 innings, the New Orleans transfer gave up just one run and three hits.
Fuselier, Fontenot and Poirrier, the No. 1-3 hitters in the Cajuns lineup, combined to go 6-for-12. Each posted a two-hit game, with Fontenot collecting his team-best 10th multiple hit game of the season and second of the series.
Andy Mee was one of two FAU batters with two hits. His second hit came in the ninth inning and drove home Church for the game's final run.
BASES NOTED: With the series win over the Owls, the Cajuns claimed their first weekend series from one of the Sun Belt's Florida schools for the first time since 2007...UL is now four wins shy of recording a winning mark at "The Tigue" for the 16th consecutive season...The Cajuns currently stand 11-4 at "The Tigue" this season...FAU lifted Paul Davis after he allowed five runs over three innings, marking his shortest outing as a starting pitcher...The five earned runs off of Davis by the Cajuns were the most he's allowed (high coming in was two earned runs, three times)...Louisiana scored first for the second straight night, improving to 9-3 when doing so...Joe Zimmermann made his first weekend start since opening day vs. SEMO...Zimmermann made his second career start vs. FAU, his first coming in May 2009 in a UNO uniform...Mike Petello's double in the third inning extended his season-best hitting streak to nine games...UL's 14 base hits marked the seventh time in the last eight games the squad reached double figures...The Owls' run in the ninth inning was the first and only run allowed by Caleb Kellogg this season in 8 2/3 innings of relief...Adding Kellogg's relief performance to the Northwestern State game and Friday night's game with FAU, the Cajuns pen has now worked 16 innings on this week's homestand and allowed one run and 10 hits...Zimmermann and Kellogg combined to hold FAU to a 1-for-10 showing in RBI opportunities...The pitching season ERA at "The Tigue' this season was lowered to 2.82...Louisiana held the opposition to single digit runs for the 57th time in the past 58 games...The Cajuns are 14-5 this season when holding the opponent to five runs or less...UL pitching has held FAU to 12 hits in two games so far in the weekend series.
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
