University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
La.-Monroe
Warhawks Take Advantage to Claim Finale
5/22/2011 2:00:00 AM | Baseball
Drew Granier's string of double-figure batters retired changed the complexion of the game and a two-out error in the seventh inning led to the winning runs for La.-Monroe as the Warhawks prevented Louisiana from sweeping the regular-season ending series by posting a 4-3 win Saturday night at Warhawk Field in Monroe.
Granier, who normally starts on the weekend but gave way to Jordy Poche on Senior Night, entered in the third inning and promptly sat down 13 Cajuns in a row. That bought time for the Warhawks (24-30, 9-21 Sun Belt) to tie the contest a 2-all.
Granier's string of Cajuns retired ended when he plunked Daniel Nichols with two outs in the seventh inning. Chase Compton and Chris Sinclair became the first Cajuns to solve Granier as they singled in succession and Nichols came around with a run for a 3-2 lead.
Louisiana (31-24, 18-12 Sun Belt) was in good shape to hold on to the lead when Sinclair, the former Warhawk who singled home Nichols, caught Les Aulds attempting to steal second base for the second out of the home half of the seventh.
A two-out error by Greg Fontenot on a Jarrett Hammond grounder gave the Warhawks new life and they used it to send their seniors off in style.
After the Cajun chose to intentionally walk Joey Rapp - who homered in the sixth inning - an infield single by Caleb Clowers gave La.-Monroe an additional chance. Judd Edwards delivered a single up the middle off of Joey Satriano to bring home the tying and go-ahead run for the Warhawks.
Louisiana began the ninth inning with a leadoff walk by Mike Petello off of James Jones. Reliever Luke Briley induced a double play ball from Lance Marvel for two outs then struck out Nichols for the final out.
The win allowed the Warhawks to even the season series with the Cajuns at 3-3 and snapped Louisiana's winning streak at four games.
The Cajuns will return to Warhawk Field next week for the Sun Belt Conference Tournament likely having to win the event to reach postseason play. UL, the No. 3 seed, will open tournament play with sixth seed South Alabama on Thursday, May 26 at 11 a.m., then face No. 7 seed Arkansas State on Friday, May 27 at 11 a.m., before wrapping up round robin play on Saturday, May 28 at 7 p.m.
Tickets to the Sun Belt Conference Baseball Tournament are now on sale at the La.-Monroe ticket office in Malone Stadium, by calling 318-342-3ULM, or by e-mailing warhawktickets@ulm.edu. Fans can purchase a tournament booklet for $75 (reserved seats for all tournament games) or buy single game tickets to just the Ragin' Cajuns games ($15 reserved/$10 general admission).
Granier's final appearance at Warhawk Field ended in a win as he worked five innings of two-hit baseball with seven strikeouts. Briley registered his first career save by notching the final three outs after James' walk to start the ninth.
T.J. Geith started for the Cajuns and limited La.-Monroe to two runs and six hits in 5 1/3 innings. Satriano was pitching when the Warhawks scratched the two runs after the two-out error and took the hard-luck defeat falling to 4-4.
Petello's third home run of the series came with two outs and staked the Cajuns to a 2-0 lead in the first inning.
It looked as though the hosts would answer as Aulds singled to lead off the bottom of the first, moved up to second on a ground out and stole third with one out. Geith battled back strike out Rapp and induce a 4-3 groundout from Clowers.
Poche, who entered with a lofty ERA and had struggled in his previous pitching appearances, retired UL in order in the second to hold the Cajuns lead at 2-0.
Poche surrendered a one-out single to Fontenot in the third inning and the Warhawks switched to Granier. Granier entered and began a string of 13 consecutive Cajuns retired forcing Geith to pitch perfect to maintain the Cajuns lead.
Geith's first mistake of the evening came with one out in the bottom of the sixth as Rapp launched a home run over the left field wall to slice the UL lead to 2-1. Clowers and Edwards then registered singles off of Geith to give La.-Monroe two runners aboard.
Satriano relieved Geith in an attempt to prevent further damage and retired the first batter he faced as Kelvin York struck out swinging. However, Joey Cesario managed to drive a single up the middle of the infield which scored Clowers with the equalizer.
Granier's string of retired batters ended when he plunked Nichols with two outs in the seventh inning. The Cajuns finally got to Granier as back-to-back singles retuned the lead to the visitors temporarily.
Sinclair, whose RBI single in the seventh retuned the lead to UL, caught Aulds attempting to steal second in the bottom of the seventh and the Cajuns appeared to be in line to maintain their advantage. But Fontenot's error proved costly as the hosts plated a pair of unearned runs on Edwards' single.
BASES NOTED: Mike Petello's home run in the first inning gave him the team lead with nine...The Cajuns now lead the all-time series with the Warhawks 64-48 and hold a 10-8 edge in Sun Belt games...UL lost for only the 11th time when holding the opposition to five runs or less (27-11)...The four runs scored by La.-Monroe marked the 38th time that that Cajuns held the opposition to five runs or less in 55 games this season...The Cajuns can remain in sole possession of third place should FIU hold on and defeat Florida Atlantic...Greg Fontenot's error in the seventh inning was the lone error that Louisiana committed in the series.
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
