Bowman's Walk-off Single Seals Harrison's Gem in WKU Finale

Contact: Matt Hebert

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LAFAYETTE – Brian Bowman's two-out, walk-off single through the right side of the infield in the ninth inning gave the Ragin' Cajuns baseball team a 2-1 victory over Western Kentucky on Easter Sunday at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field and put the finishing touches on a masterful pitching performance by Jordan Harrison.

Harrison tossed a complete game one-hitter at the Hilltoppers and wound up being one pitch away from a no-hitter as the lone WKU hit of the contest came on a solo home run by Ryan Huck in the second inning.

Harrison allowed only three baserunners the rest of the way – two walks and a hit by pitch – following Huck's solo home run on the way to the first complete game, one-hitter by a Cajuns pitcher since Zach Osborne accomplished the feat on April 9, 2010 vs. Troy at “The Tigue”.

“He only made one mistake, and we were calling the pitches so that one wasn't really on him,” head coach Tony Robichaux said. “He did a great job of recovering and moving forward after the home run.”

UL (15-16, 5-7 Sun Belt) was down to its final out in the ninth inning when the combination of Ryan Leonards and Bowman made sure that Harrison, who was at 120 pitches, didn't have to come back out for a 10^th inning of work.

Leonards was able to beat out a grounder to shortstop for an infield single which kept the Cajuns' ninth-inning at bat alive. The Notre Dame High School of Crowley product then stole second base on the second offering to Bowman from WKU reliever Ross Hammonds.

Bowman, who entered the at bat 0-for-4, went to the opposite side of the field on Hammonds' next pitch, as his single through the right side rolled into the outfield and allowed Leonards enough time to slide underneath the tag of WKU catcher Devin Kelly breaking the 1-1 tie which was intact since a Tyler Frederick RBI single in the sixth inning.

“We have a motto of having your best at bat at the most crucial time,” Robichaux mentioned. “People will forget that you were 0-for-4 if you drive in the critical run.

“You can win without hitting a lot, since it all starts with pitching and defense. I hope we're getting closer to getting back on track.”

Bowman's heroics gave Louisiana the Sun Belt series victory over the Hilltoppers (13-19, 5-7 Sun Belt) – the first series win since the opening week of league play at La.-Monroe (March 16-18).

After dropping the series opener on Friday, UL came back with a pair of one-run victories over the Hilltoppers to give the squad back-to-back wins after Friday's loss had extended the squad's losing streak to eight games.

“This was really big to come back and win the series,” Bowman said. “It's huge for us right now. I hope this can get us going for the rest of the year.”

Louisiana travels to Baton Rouge on Tuesday, April 10 for a midweek meeting with Southern at Lee-Hines Field set for 6 p.m. The Cajuns are back at “The Tigue” Friday-Sunday, April 13-15 for a three-game SBC series with FIU (19-13, 7-5 Sun Belt).

Harrison, a lefthander, was picked as the starting pitcher Sunday morning over righty Joe Zimmermann. He continued the Cajuns pitching staff's lefthanders dominance of WKU hitting holding the Toppers to a 1-for-28 showing at the plate. In the series, Cajuns lefties handcuffed the Toppers bats to the tune of 6-for-51 (.118 average) – a critical stat in the series victory.

“We looked at the numbers, and we'd pitched well against them out of the left side,” Robichaux said. “We had both of them on standby leaving the park yesterday, and we hadn't used either one out of the pen.

“We haven't had a lot of run production, but our pitching staff did a great job all week. They did a great job of doing their job, worrying about pitching and not what our hitters were doing.”

After Huck's home run Harrison dialed back in by retiring 14 of the next 15 batters until a leadoff walk in the seventh inning. The Porter, Texas, native struck out 11 WKU batters, the first time a Cajuns pitcher fanned double figures since Zach Osborne struck out 11 against Middle Tennessee on April 30, 2010.

Hammonds was charged with the loss for WKU. Prior to the back-to-back singles given up to Leonards and Bowman, he had combined with fellow relievers Tate Glasscock and Austin Clay to hold the Cajuns scoreless for 3 2/3 innings in support of starter Taylor Haydel who allowed just one run in five innings of work.

The Hilltoppers jumped in front in the second inning when Huck took a first pitch offering from Harrison over the right field wall.

UL picked up its first hit off of Haydel in the third inning, and later threatened to score after Bowman stole second and Jace Conrad reached on an infield single off of Haydel's glove. The Toppers' righty avoided trouble by catching Dylan Butler looking at strike three for the final out of the frame.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, a leadoff single by Butler followed by his first career stolen base led to the Cajuns evening the score on Haydel and WKU.

Chase Compton followed with a grounder to shortstop to advance Butler to third base. The grounder was misplayed by Steve Hodgins giving UL runners on the corners with no outs. Frederick became the third straight Cajun to reach in the frame when he singled to center field to bring home Butler and tie the score at 1-1.

WKU got out of the jam without further damage as Glasscock rolled a double play ball off the bat of Preston and struck out Nichols swinging for the final out.

The teams were locked in a stalemate until Leonards was one step ahead of Hodgins' throw on the grounder in the ninth and Bowman delivered the game's decisive hit.

BASES NOTED: Brian Bowman's stolen base in the third inning was his 17^th of the season, tying his personal single-season best set in 2010 (17-of-19)…The stolen base was the 49^th of his career and came in his 138^th career game played (49-of-58)…Jordan Harrison made his third start of the season and first in Sun Belt play…It was Harrison's first start since getting the nod on Saturday, March 10 vs. Southern Miss…UL used a different starting pitcher for the third straight Sunday (Zimmermann vs. ASU, Howell at FAU, Harrison vs. WKU)…Louisiana played at “The Tigue” on Easter Sunday for the second straight season…On Easter Sunday 2011, UL defeated South Alabama 5-4 which earned head coach Tony Robichaux his 600^th victory as Cajuns skipper…Jordan Harrison's complete game effort, marked the fourth time in four games this week that the Cajuns starting pitcher worked at least six complete innings…In the four game stretch this week, which began with Austin Robichaux's gem on Tuesday vs. Southeastern Louisiana, UL's pitching staff worked 36 innings, limited opponents to 21 hits, nine runs and a .172 batting average…The pitching staff's ERA for the week was 1.75 – the lowest one-week total since a 1.70 mark the week of Feb. 20-26…In the previous two weeks of play, Cajuns pitching had a 4.00 (March 19-25) and 5.62 ERA (March 26-April 1), respectively…Of the seven earned runs allowed during the week, six came in one game (Friday's 6-2 loss to WKU)…Louisiana improved to 5-4 in one-run games…Eight of the last 12 meetings between the Cajuns and Hilltoppers have been decided by two runs or less…The Cajuns have won 13 of the 19 all-time weekend sets (68 percent) with WKU since joining the Sun Belt…UL has now claimed 10 of the 11 weekend series held at “The Tigue” between the two schools and improved to 25-8 all-time vs. the Toppers at the facility…UL pitching held the opposition to single digits for the 30^th time in 31 games and the 15^th straight game since surrendering 11 to Southern Miss on Sunday, March 11…The weekend series performance lowered the pitching staff's season ERA from 3.85 to 3.70 through 275 innings pitched…Jace Conrad played his 26^th consecutive error-free game fielding both chances he saw cleanly…Dating back to Feb. 24 vs. Towson, Conrad has now fielded the past 102 chances he's encountered flawlessly…Adam Todd's single in the seventh inning was his first hit of the season and of his career (went 0-for-3 in seven games in 2010 and entered the day 0-for-5).

-- Ragin' Cajuns --

Bowman's Walk-off Single Seals Harrison's Gem in WKU Finale

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