University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Middle Tennessee
MT Stuns UL in Senior Weekend Opener
5/14/2011 2:37:00 AM | Baseball
A freshman stole the spotlight in the opening game of Senior Weekend at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field on Friday as Middle Tennessee true freshman Cody Tollison combined with two relievers to hold Louisiana to one run in a 3-1 victory that was the Blue Raiders' first at "The Tigue" since 2005.
Tollison, making his first career start, scattered five hits in 5 2/3 innings and made his biggest impact on the last pitch he threw.
Clinging to a 2-1 lead and Cajuns on first and third with no outs, Tollison was able to force Jordan Poirrier to line into a 4-3 double play for two quick outs.
Reliever Hunter Dawson needed one pitch to get Lance Marvel to ground out to shortstop for the final out of the inning officially ending the last threat by Louisiana (27-23, 14-11 Sun Belt).
Paul Mittura pitched the final two innings to collect the save and sew up the upset victory for the Blue Raiders (17-33, 8-17 Sun Belt).
The series continues Saturday at 6 p.m. The pitching matchup features Jordan Nicholson (4-2, 2.24 ERA) for UL and Hunter Adkins (1-8, 5.96 ERA) for MT.
The Cajuns did make a final run at Mittura in the bottom of the ninth. A one-out single by Marvel and two-out hit by pitch of Matt Goulas gave UL a pair of runners. Pinch hitter Daniel Nichols worked the count to 3-0, but Mittura battled back to get two strikes then forced a grounder to end the game.
Louisiana's lone run came on a RBI double from Michael Strentz in the fourth inning and it appeared to be the only run the Cajuns would need for starter Taylor Hubbell who was zipping through the MT lineup had the Blue Raiders hitless through the first four innings.
The fifth inning, though, was the lone hiccup for Hubbell, who fell to 4-6 with the loss, as three consecutive base hits to start the frame vaulted the visitors into the lead for good.
It began with a single from Matthew Drake who scored the tying run on a double by Trent Miller. Miller trotted home on the third successive hit of the inning, a single to right center field by Ryan Ford that gave MT a 2-1 lead.
Hubbell's night ended in the sixth inning and Joey Satriano did his part to hold the Blue Raiders in check posting zeros until an insurance run was plated in the ninth inning.
Middle Tennessee claimed its first victory at "The Tigue" since May 13, 2005 - exactly six years ago on the same date as Friday night's triumph. Louisiana's eight-game win streak in regular season contests over MT was also snapped.
With Troy's 5-3 win over La.-Monroe the Ragin' Cajuns dropped to four games behind the league leaders with five games remaining leaving little margin for error at the chance of repeating as Sun Belt Conference champions.
BASES NOTED: Mike Petello extended his current hitting streak to 13 games, the longest streak by any Cajuns player this season...Alex Fuselier entered the game with his fourth seven-game hitting streak since mid-March and for the fourth time came up hitless in an effort to stretch the streak further...Greg Fontenot finished 2-for-4 notching his 60th career multiple-hit game...It was Fontenot's 18th multi-hit game of the season, moving him within two of a third straight season with 20-plus multi-hit games...UL lost for only the 10th time when holding the opposition to five runs or less (23-10)...The Cajuns fell to 3-15 when scoring two runs or less.
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
