Seven-Run Third Inning Carries Cajuns Past Demons

Contact: Matt Hebert

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LAFAYETTE – The Ragin' Cajuns baseball team pushed across seven runs off of the first two relievers Northwestern State used in the third inning Wednesday evening at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field to reclaim a lead they wouldn't relinquish on the way to a 10-8 victory.

With the exception of a three-spot by the Demons in the seventh inning, Louisiana's bullpen preserved the victory which ended a three-game losing skid in midweek games.

When NSU cut the lead to 8-7 on a wild pitch in the eighth inning, a bases-loaded single by Dylan Butler in the bottom of the inning scored two runs to push the Cajuns lead to three runs. Butler's hit provided enough cushion to offset an additional run added by the Demons in the ninth inning.

The victory increased the Cajuns current win streak over the Demons at “The Tigue” to seven straight games, a streak which dates back to Feb. 28, 2007. UL improved to 16-6 vs. NSU at the facility under Tony Robichaux.

Louisiana (17-19) takes to the road this weekend for a three-game Sun Belt Conference series in Mobile, Ala., against South Alabama. The series runs Friday-Sunday, April 20-22 with game times of 6:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m., and 1 p.m.

The Demons (14-20) held a 3-1 lead to start the Cajuns half of the third. Starting pitcher Jacob Roark surrendered a leadoff single to Jordan Bourque and hit Adam Todd with a pitch. Roark, only scheduled to throw two innings, was pulled and for NSU the trouble began.

Reliever A.J. Funk surrendered an infield single to load the bases, then back-to-back singles by Chase Compton and Tyler Frederick drew the Cajuns even at 3-all and chased Funk off the mound.

Jamie Bittle was the next arm the Demons used and he was able to register an out, but it was a sacrifice fly by Almann Snowden which scored Ryan Leonards with the go-ahead tally.

Jace Conrad delivered the big blow on the next at bat with a three-run home run over the right field wall that increased the Cajuns lead to 7-3. A Daniel Nichols double and Bourque single pushed across the Cajuns' seventh run of the frame and ended Bittle's outing.

“We swung the bat better tonight after a couple good workouts this week,” head coach Tony Robichaux said. “The guys got some big hits at the critical time of the game. Hopefully the guys are loosing up a little bit.

“Jace (Conrad) got a big hit tonight, and we haven't had many of those this year. That shows that we are losing up a little bit. We have more power than we have shown. When you get really tight you lose a lot of bat speed, and that was our biggest concern. Tonight we were just able to hit some balls on the screws.”

Kendall Mayer took over for Henri Faucheux and tossed three innings of hitless relief to help Louisiana maintain the momentum.

NSU relievers Zach Winchester, Joe Scanio and Mason Melotakis kept the Cajuns from pulling away throwing a combined 4 1/3 scoreless innings.

When Ben Frith ran into trouble in the seventh inning allowing a pair of runs off three hits, Cord Cockrell helped UL minimize the damage by limiting NSU to just one more run while recording the three outs to end the rally.

A leadoff walk by Logan Preston and consecutive one-out singles by Brian Bowman and Leonards loaded the bases off NSU reliever Carson Goldsmith in the eighth. Goldsmith fanned Compton for the second out, but couldn't keep the Cajuns off the scoreboard as Butler came through with a single into left field.

“Those two runs in the eighth turned out to be big for us,” Robichaux mentioned. “I thought Cockrell did a good job of bailing us out in the seventh. He was able to come in after a rough first outing for (Ben) Frith and clean things up.”

Conrad led UL with four RBI, the bulk of those coming on his first collegiate home run which came in the third inning. Butler picked up two RBI on the bases-loaded single in the eighth inning, moving him to 33 RBI for the season which is seven shy of becoming the first true freshman with 40 RBI since Les Smith in 2009.

Mayer, the most effective of the UL relievers, was credited with the victory, the first at the DI level for the junior college transfer from Seminole State College. Matt Hicks pitched the ninth inning and collected his fourth save of the season moving him into a tie with Caleb Kellogg for the team lead.

A leadoff double down the left field line from Drew Helenihi helped the Demons open the scoring in the first inning. Following a Will Watson sacrifice, Nick Hinojos lifted a single into center field to plate Helenihi.

The Cajuns drew even in the second inning after a Frederick leadoff single and Snowden double put two runners in scoring position. UL was limited to one run, though, as Frederick was caught attempting to score on a wild pitch. After the wild pitch, Snowden scored the lone run on a Conrad grounder to second base.

The first three Demons reached base off of Faucheux in the third inning and the visitors reclaimed the lead on a Hinojos RBI single to right field. Watson (infield single) stole third base after Hinojos' single and scored an additional run for NSU on a fly ball to center field by Colin Bear.

Bear's sacrifice was misplayed by Dominick Francia and the Demons had two runners on with no outs. Faucheux induced an infield fly from Nick Purdy, struck out Matt Baca and got Shaun Hoover to fly out to hold the deficit at 3-1.

The NSU lead was short-lived as the Cajuns bats came alive against the NSU bullpen in the bottom half of the third.

BASES NOTED: Dominick Francia made his return to the field after an emergency appendectomy had him sidelined since March 14...Francia started in center field and hit leadoff…The two teams were scheduled to meet in a makeup game in Natchitoches the night before, but unplayable field conditions canceled the contest…Jace Conrad's home run in the third inning was the first of his collegiate career and first by a Cajuns player since March 24 vs. Arkansas State (Chase Compton)…After combining for 16 hits over the first three innings, each lineup was held hitless over the middle three innings…In the top of the seventh, Ben Frith took his turn amongst the Cajuns relievers marking his first appearance as a Cajun since transferring from Marshall prior to the 2011 season (redshirted in 2011)…Matt Hicks made his team-leading 18^th appearance in relief when he took over for Cord Cockrell in the ninth inning…The two-run margin broke a string of six consecutive one-run games for Louisiana…The 10 runs scored marked the highest output since playing 12 vs. Southern Miss on Friday, March 9…The Cajuns' 14 base hits were the most since tallying 15 in the Sunday contest at La.-Monroe (March 18)…Jace Conrad continued his streak of consecutive error-free games extending it to 31 games dating back to Feb. 25 vs. Towson…Conrad cleanly fielded eight chances the Demons sent his way, extending his string of consecutive chances fielded flawlessly to 134…Head coach Tony Robichaux is now 12 wins shy of 900 career wins (presently 888-605-1 in his 26^th season as a Division I head coach).

-- Ragin' Cajuns --

Seven-Run Third Inning Carries Cajuns Past Demons

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