University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
UALR
Walk-Off Squeeze Play Gives UL Series Win
4/30/2011 11:30:00 PM | Baseball
Louisiana scored three runs in the ninth inning to force extra innings and Alex Fuselier's squeeze bunt in the 10th inning brought home Matt Goulas with the winning run as the Ragin' Cajuns topped UALR 7-6 Saturday afternoon at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field in a Sun Belt Network broadcast.
The Ragin' Cajuns (25-19, 12-8 Sun Belt) claimed the Sun Belt series victory over the Trojans (16-25, 6-14 Sun Belt) and stretched their league win streak to four games. Louisiana also registered the 15th straight win over UALR, a streak that dates back to April 2006.
The series finale is set for Sunday at 1 p.m. T.J. Geith (4-3, 4.89 ERA) will start for the Cajuns as they attempt to record their second SBC series sweep of the season.
UL has made late-inning victories a habit on the current seven-game homestand and Saturday proved to be no different.
Trailing 6-3 heading into the bottom of the ninth the Cajuns drew four walks off of UALR reliever John Maler to put the wheels in motion. The fourth walk Maler issued brought home pinch hitter Ryan Leonards and cut the Trojans lead to 6-4.
Andrew Hohn replaced Maler with the bases loaded and forced Jordan Poirrier to hit a grounder to first base, but it was to the back of the infield and there wasn't a chance to complete a double play. Trask Switzenberg scored moving the Cajuns within a run.
Lance Marvel followed with a single into right center field to bring home Greg Fontenot with the equalizer giving Louisiana new life as the game headed to extra innings.
Caleb Kellogg, who ended the Trojans scoring spree in the eighth inning that created the visitors' 6-3 advantage, capped off a string of seven straight UALR hitters retired by sitting them down in order in the top half of the 10th inning.
Goulas opened the bottom of the 10th with a single up the middle, was sacrificed to second base by Leonards and moved up to third base on a Switzenberg grounder that UALR shortstop Greg Garcia misplayed.
With still one out on the scoreboard the Cajuns elected to have Fuselier lay down the squeeze bunt. The bunt came to a stop in front of the plate, rolled away from Hohn and Goulas was able to leap past catcher Nick Navarro to notch the winning run.
Kellogg finished with 2 1/3 innings of perfect relief. He registered three strikeouts, recorded his first collegiate victory and notched his second no-hit relief effort of the week.
Jordan Nicholson made his first weekend start since the Arkansas State series (March 27) and held the Trojans to two runs on six hits over 5 1/3 innings.
Marvel, Mike Petello and Poirrier led the Cajuns offense with two RBI apiece. Petello tallied two hits notching his team-leading 17th multiple-hit game and extended his current hitting streak to seven games.
UL jumped ahead in the first inning after back-to-back, two-out doubles by Petello and Poirrier produced the first run then Marvel singled home Poirrier with another run.
The Cajuns gained a three-run edge in the third inning after Fuselier led off with a single, advanced to second on a Fontenot sacrifice and scored on a Petello single to left center.
UALR's leadoff hitter reached in the fourth and fifth inning and each time Nicholson retired the next three hitters to keep the Trojans scoreless.
Starting pitcher Ryan Juris settled in over the middle innings posting zeros to keep the Trojans within striking distance. A two-run single by Navarro in the sixth inning cut the UL lead to 3-2.
Chase Traffica took over for Nicholson after a walk issued to Justin Barnes and snuffed out the UALR rally with a strikeout of Sean Bignall and lineout from Cameron Bentley.
The Trojans pulled even in Traffica's first full inning of work as Myles Parma muscled a home run over the right field wall.
UALR pulled ahead in the eighth inning as Traffica issued two walks, and then with two outs Joe Zimmermann surrendered three consecutive run-scoring singles.
Kellogg was summoned out of the bullpen by Tony Robichaux and not a single Trojans batter saw the base path the rest of the way.
BASES NOTED: UL's win combined with Troy's loss to Florida Atlantic puts the Ragin' Cajuns within three games of first place in the Sun Belt standings...The Cajuns have won four straight Sun Belt games, tying their season-long win streak in conference play (ASU finale, FAU sweep)...Louisiana improved to 3-1 in extra innings...This was the third extra inning game in the past two weeks (4/19 at McNeese, 4/24 vs. USA, 4/30 vs. UALR)...UL improved to 9-6 in one-run games...Caleb Kellogg, who tossed two hitless innings against Southeastern Louisiana on Tuesday has now pitched 4 1/3 innings of no-hit relief this week...On the current seven-game homestand, Mike Petello is batting .480 (12-for-25) and slugging .760...Petello has raised his average from .312 to .340 during the homestand...Louisiana is 4-2 on the homestand which concludes on Sunday...UL can claim a series sweep of UALR for the fifth straight season with a win on Sunday.
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
