Cajuns Make It a Clean Sweep of Midweek Action, Top McNeese 14-8

Contact: Matt Hebert

Box Score

LAKE CHARLES – Five players posted multiple-RBI nights and the Ragin' Cajuns baseball team coasted to a 14-8 win over McNeese State behind a season-high 14 hit attack Wednesday evening at Cowboy Diamond.

Louisiana (8-5) opened a 6-0 lead after 2-1/2 innings of action and McNeese (3-9) would get no closer than five runs the rest of the evening.

Junior college transfer Derek Howell started for UL and limited the Cowboys to one run on three hits over his three innings of work. Freshmen Henri Faucheux and Kyle Neely (redshirt) combined for five innings of valuable work out of the bullpen to keep the Cowboys in check.

Matt Hicks ended a Cowboys uprising in the ninth by inducing a double play ball from Renny Weber with the bases loaded and the lead trimmed to 14-8.

“We were able to post some big two-out hits, post a couple of three-run innings and executed really well,” head coach Tony Robichaux said. “Towards the end they had a couple of ground balls get through and a flare that fell in which allowed them to inch closer.

“Those last couple of arms we threw allowed us to save (Jordan) Harrison and (Matt) Hicks, even though he faced one batter. That was critical for us as we are going to need everyone this weekend because not having (Joe) Zimmermann thins us out a little bit. By bypassing two arms tonight that will help us out Friday night.”

Added with a 3-1 win over Houston on Tuesday, Louisiana completed a clean sweep of midweek action heading into a weekend series with Southern Miss at “The Tigue” Friday-Sunday, March 9-11. The Cajuns and Golden Eagles series opens Friday at 6 p.m.

Ryan Leonards led the Cajuns' offensive charge with a 4-for-5 showing at the plate. The 5-6-7 combination of Tyler Frederick, Daniel Nichols and Jace Conrad combined for six hits and six RBI.

The Cajuns ended a two-game losing streak at Cowboy Diamond and won for the 10^th time in the past 12 meetings with McNeese. Wednesday's meeting marked the 147^th all-time between the two programs, making the series with the Cowboys the most-played in school history surpassing the 146 meetings with UNO.

After three batters the Cajuns had the lead. Brian Bowman led the game off with a single up the middle and Leonards reached on a hit by pitch. After the duo executed a double steal, Dylan Butler ripped a double to left center to plate them for a 2-0 lead.

McNeese starter Ross Rowland was relieved by Ryan Sampere after he hit Frederick to give the Cajuns runners on first and second. A Nichols single to right center loaded the bases and Butler scored UL's third run of the opening frame on a Conrad groundout.

Louisiana tacked on another three-run frame in the third inning to open a comfortable lead.

A Chase Compton walk and Frederick double put the Cajuns in position for a Conrad grounder to plate Compton for a 4-0 edge. After a Logan Preston walk and stolen base, Chris Sinclair drove a single back up the middle to score two more runs upping the lead to 6-0.

McNeese jumped on the scoreboard in the bottom half of the third inning on a Nick Eubanks RBI single.

A Nichols two-run home run on the second at bat of the top of the fifth came off of Cowboys reliever Coby Miller and extended the UL lead to 8-1.

Faucheux retired the first to McNeese batters in the bottom of the fifth to extend his string of consecutive Cowboys retired to five straight. Back-to-back, two-out walks would cost him a pair of runs that crossed home plate on a Taylor Drake double down the left field line.

The Cajuns left no doubt in the outcome of the contest in the sixth inning when they made the Cowboys pay for an error by plating four unearned runs which stretched the margin to 12-3.

Dominick Francia reached on an error by Cowboys shortstop Tyler Klouser to start the UL half of the sixth, then scored when Leonards laced a double to the left field wall.

Miller recorded back-to-back outs, but the error proved costly as a Frederick RBI single, Conrad RBI single and throwing error by center fielder Andrew Guillotte led to three additional runs for the Cajuns.

Leonards' second double of the evening scored Francia (one-out single) in the seventh pushing Louisiana's lead to double figures for the first time at 13-3.

BASES NOTED: Ryan Leonards posted the first four-hit game of the season by a Cajuns player…Leonards collected his seventh multi-hit game of the season…Louisiana improved to 22-16 vs. McNeese in the Tony Robichaux era…Tony Robichaux now needs 21 wins to reach 900 career wins (879-591-1)…The game marked the final one in the dugout for assistant coach/recruiting coordinator Mike Trahan who is stepping away from baseball…Derek Howell made his first start of the season…Redshirt freshman Kyle Neely made his Division I debut when he entered sixth inning and worked three full innings…The Cajuns increased their midweek winning streak to three games and will enter the Southern Miss series a season-best, three games above .500 (8-5).

-- Ragin' Cajuns --

Cajuns Make It a Clean Sweep of Midweek Action, Top McNeese 14-8

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