University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Troy
Troy Breaks Free in the Fifth to Take Opener
5/7/2011 2:39:00 AM | Baseball
Louisiana saw its five-game win streak in Sun Belt play snapped Friday night at Riddle-Pace Field in Troy, Ala., as the host-Trojans used a complete-game effort from Tyler Ray and 16-hit attack to top the Ragin' Cajuns 7-1.
Ray limited the Ragin' Cajuns (26-20, 13-9 Sun Belt) to four hits and the Trojans (33-13, 16-6 Sun Belt) plated six runs over their final four at bats to break open a 1-1 contest.
The teams continue their three-game Sun Belt series on Saturday at 6 p.m. UL will send junior righty Jordan Nicholson (3-2, 2.63 ERA) to the mound and Troy is set to counter with freshman Jimmy Hodgskin (2-4, 4.08 ERA).
Lance Marvel tripled into the left center field gap to open the fifth inning and scored the tying run for the Cajuns on a Michael Strentz ground out.
It took a couple of extra at bats, but Troy was able to break the tie in the bottom of the fifth and give Ray the lead he would hold for the remainder of the night.
Tyson Workman led off with a single and attempted to score on a double by Tyler Hannah, but the relay throw from Matt Goulas to Greg Fontenot to Michael Strentz gunned down Workman at home keeping the tie intact.
Adam Bryant would walk and T.J. Rivera lifted a single just over reach of Fontenot - who leaped in an attempt to snag an out - to load the bases, but the tie was still intact.
On the very next at bat - the third since the force out at home plate - Blake Martz rolled a single through the left side to score Hannah for a 2-1 lead. Taylor Hubbell then plunked Todd McRae forcing in another run.
Joey Satriano relieved Hubbell and induced a double play ball from Logan Pierce to end the fifth inning and put up a zero in the sixth inning to hold the deficit at two runs.
A leadoff single by Hannah and infield single from Rivera put two Trojans aboard against Satriano in the seventh inning. Satriano struck out Martz for the second out, but a near miss on a sliding catch by Mike Petello on a shallow liner to right field by McRae allowed the first two runs scored off of Satriano to cross home plate and stretched the lead to 5-1.
The Trojans added another run in the seventh on a Josh McDorman RBI single and capped off the scoring in the eighth with a sacrifice fly by Rivera.
Ray, who walked none and struck out 10, never gave the Cajuns a chance at any type of rally as he retired 12 of the final 13 batters he faced.
With the win Troy recorded its first Friday night win over Louisiana in Sun Belt play. Ray improved to 11-0.
Hubbell took the loss for the Cajuns, allowing three runs on 10 hits in 4 1/3 innings. He fell to 4-5 with the defeat.
Petello singled in the seventh inning to extend his hitting streak to nine games. Alex Fuselier recorded a hit marking the 25th time that he's hit safely in the past 28 games he's played.
Hannah and Bryant topped the Trojans with three hits apiece and McRae was the leading run producer with three RBI.
BASES NOTED: The loss dropped the Ragin' Cajuns three games behind Troy for first place in the Sun Belt standings...The Cajuns played their 20th error free game (14-6) and ironically lost for the third straight time playing errorless baseball...The 16 hits allowed by Cajuns pitching tied a season-high (April 17 at FIU/April 19 at McNeese)...Greg Fontenot recorded six assists, pushing him over 500 for his career...Fontenot joins Mark Lalande as one of only two players in program history to notch 500 career assists...Fontenot will enter Saturday's game with 504 career assists needing just three assists to break Lalande's career record of 506... Louisiana turned two double plays, increasing the season total to 47 and leaving the team 13 shy of a third straight season of 60-plus twin-killings with at least 12 games left to play...Since April 1, the Cajuns have executed 31 double plays in 22 games...The Cajuns need a win Saturday to even the series and keep the Trojans from notching their first-ever Sun Belt series win over the Cajuns.
-- Ragin' Cajuns --
