University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Sunday, February 18
Lafayette, La.
1:00 p.m.
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
2-1
5
vs
3
Wright State
1-2
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Wright State
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
1
3
6
0
Louisiana
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
3
X
5
11
1
Three-Run Eighth Leads Cajuns Past Wright State, 5-3
2/18/2024 5:51:00 PM | Baseball
LAFAYETTE – Back-to-back home runs by Luke Yuhasz and Clay Wargo fueled a three-run eighth inning and lifted the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Baseball team to a 5-3 win over Wright State in the series finale on Sunday at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field at Russo Park.
John Taylor hit a game-tying home run in the sixth inning to break out of an early 0-for-8 skid for Louisiana (2-1) while Kyle DeBarge's RBI single in the fifth inning stopped an early-season 0-for-10 slump.
Matthew Holzhammer (1-0) earned his first victory after striking out the side in the eighth inning of his Louisiana debut. LP Langevin pitched the ninth for the Ragin' Cajuns to claim his first save.
"That is as good as a unit (Wright State) you will find," head coach Matt Deggs said. "They're older, they're experienced. You saw how hard it was to put them away there at the end with quality stuff.
"I'm proud of the way we responded, and we always say we win because we outlast people and our pitching gave us a chance to do that again today."
Wright State (1-2), the reigning Horizon League champions with six trips to the NCAA Regionals in the past eight seasons, left the bases loaded in the third inning before breaking a scoreless duel in the fourth on Gus Gregory's two-out, two-run blast to right field off Louisiana starter Carson Fluno.
Louisiana would respond in the fifth after Bryan Broussard, Jr. hit a double into the gap in right-center field and scored when DeBarge ripped a two-out single through the left side off WSU reliever Mychal Grogan.
An inning later, Taylor knotted the game at 2-2 when he homered to right-center field off Grogan.
Louisiana's pitching came up large in the seventh inning when Blake Marshall got Jay Luikart looking at a called third strike after the Raiders put a pair of potential go-ahead runners in scoring position.
The Ragin' Cajuns threatened to take the lead in the seventh after DeBarge and Conor Higgs were each hit by a pitch, but WSU's Duke Benge got an inning-ending double play to keep Louisiana off the board.
Holzhammer, the Ragin' Cajuns fifth pitcher of the game, got Sammy Sass and Boston Smith swinging at 3-and-2 counts in the eighth before getting Patrick Fultz looking at a called third strike to end the frame.
Louisiana would respond in the bottom half of the inning after Duke Benge (1-1) got a called third strike for the first out of the frame. Yuhasz, who's game-tying squeeze bunt tied the game in the ninth inning of Friday's eventual 3-2 win, gave the Ragin' Cajuns a 3-2 lead when he hit his first home run of the season to left-center field.
Two pitches later, Wargo belted a towering 435-foot blast over the scoreboard to chase Benge and give Louisiana a 4-2 lead.
Trey LaFleur, who went 2-for-4, kept up his impressive start to the season with an infield single before scoring on Josh Alexander's RBI double to right.
Langevin, who earned the win in Friday's opener, fanned a pair of batters in the ninth along with walks to Gregory and pinch-hitter Dominic Pilolli. Julian Greenwell's RBI single down the right-field line scored Gregory, but Langevin got Luikart to fly out to preserve the series.
"Yesterday was kind of gift-wrapped and we tried to giftwrap the first game," Deggs said. "I knew our backs were against the wall and we didn't catch any breaks (today). We could have scored a bunch of runs today if it weren't for a couple of base-running mistakes and their (WSU's) defense and the circus catches they were making out there. It wasn't for a lack of us finding barrels … they were just making plays.
"We just had to survive that and find a reason to win and that was behind our pitching. We really took off after Matt Holzhammer's inning in the eighth. That intent that he had and the tone he set really energized the dugout and we came up big right there."
Louisiana will head out on the road on Tuesday when it makes the trip west to Lake Charles to battle McNeese at Joe Miller Ballpark. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. with the game being streamed on ESPN+. Fans in the Lafayette area can listen to the game on KPEL-FM (96.5) and worldwide on the Varsity Network app.
Tickets for Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Baseball are available for purchase on-line at RaginCajuns.com/tickets or by calling the Louisiana Athletics Ticket Office at (337) 482-GoUL (4685).
Fans are encouraged to stay engaged with the Ragin' Cajuns by downloading the #GeauxCajuns app. Click here for iOS/Apple platforms and here for Android platforms.
For the latest updates on Ragin' Cajuns baseball, follow on Facebook (RaginCajunsBaseball), Twitter (@RaginCajunsBSB) and Instagram (@RaginCajunsBSB) or check RaginCajuns.com.
John Taylor hit a game-tying home run in the sixth inning to break out of an early 0-for-8 skid for Louisiana (2-1) while Kyle DeBarge's RBI single in the fifth inning stopped an early-season 0-for-10 slump.
Matthew Holzhammer (1-0) earned his first victory after striking out the side in the eighth inning of his Louisiana debut. LP Langevin pitched the ninth for the Ragin' Cajuns to claim his first save.
"That is as good as a unit (Wright State) you will find," head coach Matt Deggs said. "They're older, they're experienced. You saw how hard it was to put them away there at the end with quality stuff.
"I'm proud of the way we responded, and we always say we win because we outlast people and our pitching gave us a chance to do that again today."
Wright State (1-2), the reigning Horizon League champions with six trips to the NCAA Regionals in the past eight seasons, left the bases loaded in the third inning before breaking a scoreless duel in the fourth on Gus Gregory's two-out, two-run blast to right field off Louisiana starter Carson Fluno.
Louisiana would respond in the fifth after Bryan Broussard, Jr. hit a double into the gap in right-center field and scored when DeBarge ripped a two-out single through the left side off WSU reliever Mychal Grogan.
An inning later, Taylor knotted the game at 2-2 when he homered to right-center field off Grogan.
Louisiana's pitching came up large in the seventh inning when Blake Marshall got Jay Luikart looking at a called third strike after the Raiders put a pair of potential go-ahead runners in scoring position.
The Ragin' Cajuns threatened to take the lead in the seventh after DeBarge and Conor Higgs were each hit by a pitch, but WSU's Duke Benge got an inning-ending double play to keep Louisiana off the board.
Holzhammer, the Ragin' Cajuns fifth pitcher of the game, got Sammy Sass and Boston Smith swinging at 3-and-2 counts in the eighth before getting Patrick Fultz looking at a called third strike to end the frame.
Louisiana would respond in the bottom half of the inning after Duke Benge (1-1) got a called third strike for the first out of the frame. Yuhasz, who's game-tying squeeze bunt tied the game in the ninth inning of Friday's eventual 3-2 win, gave the Ragin' Cajuns a 3-2 lead when he hit his first home run of the season to left-center field.
Two pitches later, Wargo belted a towering 435-foot blast over the scoreboard to chase Benge and give Louisiana a 4-2 lead.
Trey LaFleur, who went 2-for-4, kept up his impressive start to the season with an infield single before scoring on Josh Alexander's RBI double to right.
Langevin, who earned the win in Friday's opener, fanned a pair of batters in the ninth along with walks to Gregory and pinch-hitter Dominic Pilolli. Julian Greenwell's RBI single down the right-field line scored Gregory, but Langevin got Luikart to fly out to preserve the series.
"Yesterday was kind of gift-wrapped and we tried to giftwrap the first game," Deggs said. "I knew our backs were against the wall and we didn't catch any breaks (today). We could have scored a bunch of runs today if it weren't for a couple of base-running mistakes and their (WSU's) defense and the circus catches they were making out there. It wasn't for a lack of us finding barrels … they were just making plays.
"We just had to survive that and find a reason to win and that was behind our pitching. We really took off after Matt Holzhammer's inning in the eighth. That intent that he had and the tone he set really energized the dugout and we came up big right there."
Louisiana will head out on the road on Tuesday when it makes the trip west to Lake Charles to battle McNeese at Joe Miller Ballpark. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. with the game being streamed on ESPN+. Fans in the Lafayette area can listen to the game on KPEL-FM (96.5) and worldwide on the Varsity Network app.
Tickets for Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Baseball are available for purchase on-line at RaginCajuns.com/tickets or by calling the Louisiana Athletics Ticket Office at (337) 482-GoUL (4685).
Fans are encouraged to stay engaged with the Ragin' Cajuns by downloading the #GeauxCajuns app. Click here for iOS/Apple platforms and here for Android platforms.
For the latest updates on Ragin' Cajuns baseball, follow on Facebook (RaginCajunsBaseball), Twitter (@RaginCajunsBSB) and Instagram (@RaginCajunsBSB) or check RaginCajuns.com.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Holzhammer, Matthew (1-0)
L: Duke Benge (1-1)
S: Langevin, LP (1)
Batting:
2B: Dane Thomas 1
HR: Gus Gregory 1
RBI: Julian Greenwell 1 ; Gus Gregory 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Boston Smith 1 ; Gus Gregory 2
SB: Andrew Patrick 2 ; Julian Greenwell 2 ; Boston Smith 1
CS: Boston Smith 1
HBP: Boston Smith 1
Batting:
2B: Alexander, Josh 1 ; Broussard, Jr., Bryan 2
HR: Taylor, John 1 ; Yuhasz, Luke 1 ; Wargo, Clay 1
RBI: Alexander, Josh 1 ; DeBarge, Kyle 1 ; Taylor, John 1 ; Yuhasz, Luke 1 ; Wargo, Clay 1
Base Running:
RUNS: LaFleur, Trey 1 ; Taylor, John 1 ; Yuhasz, Luke 1 ; Wargo, Clay 1 ; Broussard, Jr., Bryan 1
SB: Yuhasz, Luke 1
CS: Alexander, Josh 1
HBP: DeBarge, Kyle 1 ; Higgs, Conor 1 ; Taylor, John 1 ; Yuhasz, Luke 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
OF
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IF
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RHP
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RHP
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RHP
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LHP
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IF
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/ Baseball
RHP/OF
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