Cajuns Cruise Past MVSU, 8-0 Behind Brignac's One-Hitter

Contact: Cory Weigel

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LAFAYETTE, La. – An Ashley Brignac one-hitter and a Louisiana five-run fifth aided the Ragin' Cajuns to an 8-0, six inning victory over Mississippi Valley State in front of a Lamson Park record crowd of 2,628 on Friday evening.

UL (50-4) reached the 50-win plateau for the 10^th time in program history. They will advance to the next round of the Lafayette Regional winner's bracket to play Stanford (39-17), who beat Baylor, 1-0 earlier in the day. The game is scheduled for Saturday at 1:00 p.m. with the winner of the game moving on to the championship on Sunday.

Brignac (22-3) tossed her team-leading sixth shutout of the year, allowing just one hit that came back in the first inning. The River Ridge, La. native retired the final 13 MVSU (34-18) batters and fanned nine in the process.

Paige Cormier lead the Cajuns with four RBI, including a three-run shot in the fifth inning, her 11^th long ball of the year. Matte Haack also went deep for UL, connecting on her eighth blast of the season. Senior Katie Smith collected three hits on the evening to lead the team.

Nerissa Myers was 1-for-3, with a RBI double and a run scored. Myers now has 77 runs on the season, which equals a SBC and UL record that she tied last season.

“I just want to give a thumbs up and shout out to the Ragin' Cajun Nation for coming out in full force,” co-head coach Stefni Lotief said. “I think that the fan support was tremendous. A sea of red out there was very appreciated by our team, by our staff, by our university. And I think the girls just responded. They just kept going up there, kept working on it pitch-by-pitch and came up with some big clutch hits, kept putting pressure on their defense and had a solid defensive performance … It was a good, solid defensive performance. That was a good win, a good win to move on.”

Neither team could scratch a run across through the first two and a half innings. Brignac tamed the Devilettes, allowing just one hit and striking out five, while MVSU hurler Alicia Lorenz surrendered one hit and fanned four.

The Cajuns broke through in the bottom of the third, recording three hits to take a 2-0 lead. Natalie Fernandez and Smith led off the inning with back-to-back bunt singles, before Myers doubled down the left field line to plate Fernandez. Brianna Cherry would later hit a sacrifice fly to score Smith from third for the two-run advantage.

Brignac sent the visitors down in order in the fourth to bring UL to the plate, with a chance to extend their lead. However, the Ragin' Cajuns spoiled a one out double from Erikka Murphy as the contest remained, 2-0.

For the third consecutive inning, Brignac sent the Devilettes down in order, striking out the side in the fifth.

Louisiana used a five-run fifth to increase their lead to 7-0 on homeruns from Haack and Cormier. Myers was hit by a pitch before Haack launched a two-run shot to left center, snapping a 20-game homerless drought. Cherry singled and Sarah Draheim walked to set up a Cormier three-run blast for the seven-run advantage.

Cormier drove in her fourth run of the game on a RBI single to right center in the sixth, scoring Cherry and guiding the Cajuns to an 8-0 victory by way of the mercy rule.

UL and Stanford will play the first game of the day tomorrow starting at 1:00 p.m. followed by the Mississippi Valley State and Baylor game at 3:30. The loser of the Louisiana and Stanford game will play the winner of the MVSU and Baylor game at 6:00.

--Ragin' Cajuns--

Cajuns Cruise Past MVSU, 8-0 Behind Brignac's One-Hitter

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