University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Wednesday, April 9
Ruston, La.
6 p.m.
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
16-20
7
at
10
Louisiana Tech
21-12
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Louisiana
2
0
0
1
1
0
1
0
2
7
12
0
Louisiana Tech
1
1
2
2
1
0
3
0
X
10
9
0
Cajuns Rally Falls Short at Louisiana Tech, 10-7
4/9/2025 9:57:00 PM | Baseball
RUSTON – Colton Coates and Brody Drost combined to drive in five runs and Louisiana Tech turned a pair of key double plays in earning a 10-7 win over Louisiana on Wednesday at J.C. Love Field at Pat Patterson Park.
Louisiana (16-20), which will resume Sun Belt Conference play on Friday at ULM, collected 12 hits but allowed seven runs through the first five innings to drop the season series to Louisiana Tech (21-12) for the first time since 2020.
Maddox Mandino recorded his first three-hit game for the Ragin' Cajuns going 3-for-4 with a triple. Kasen Bellard, one of seven freshmen in the starting lineup for Louisiana, finished 2-for-5 with his first career homer before adding an RBI double.
Louisiana scored twice in the first inning as freshman Blaine Lucas' well-placed bunt scored Brooks Wright with two outs. The following batter, Mark Collins, then singled through the right side off Louisiana Tech starter Landon Fontenot to plate Lucas and give the Ragin' Cajuns a 2-0 lead.
The Bulldogs loaded the bases in the first inning off Louisiana starter Matt Osteen (0-1) and cut the lead to 2-1 on Sebastian Mexico's sacrifice fly to left. The Bulldogs tied the game in the second when Drost beat out a throw to the plate on a fielder's choice before the speedy right-fielder drove in a pair of runs with a one-out single in the third.
Louisiana closed to within 4-3 in the fourth on Griffin Hebert's RBI single to left before Louisiana Tech answered with two runs in the bottom half of the inning for a 6-3 lead.
Both teams traded runs in the fifth as Bellard belted a two-out homer to right for Louisiana before Trey Hawsey's solo homer in the bottom half for a 7-4 lead.
Bellard drove in Mandino with a two-out double down the right-field line to get Louisiana to within 7-5 before a two-run single by Coates seventh coupled by a wild pitch led to a three-run inning for the Bulldogs.
Louisiana kept battling in the eighth as a one-out walk to Lucas and infield singles by Collins and Hebert loaded the bases. But the Bulldogs would get out of the inning as reliever Nate Crider got a 4-6-3 double play to keep Louisiana off the board.
Conor Higgs hit his 11th home run of the season – a two-run shot to left field – to get Louisiana to within 10-7, but reliever Blake Hooks got a pair of strikeouts and a liner back to the mound to ice the win.
Bellard, Hebert and Collins had two hits each for Louisiana. Osteen, making his first collegiate start, allowed three runs in 2.1 innings for the Ragin' Cajuns.
Fontenot (1-0) earned the win for Louisiana Tech, holding the Ragin' Cajuns to a pair of hits and striking out four in 3.2 innings.
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Baseball season and single-game tickets are available for purchase online at RaginCajuns.com/tickets or by calling the Louisiana Athletics Ticket Office at (337) 482-GoUL (4685). Fans can also support the baseball student athletes, and invest in the program's future, through the Krewe Allons NIL Collective (click here).
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.
Louisiana (16-20), which will resume Sun Belt Conference play on Friday at ULM, collected 12 hits but allowed seven runs through the first five innings to drop the season series to Louisiana Tech (21-12) for the first time since 2020.
Maddox Mandino recorded his first three-hit game for the Ragin' Cajuns going 3-for-4 with a triple. Kasen Bellard, one of seven freshmen in the starting lineup for Louisiana, finished 2-for-5 with his first career homer before adding an RBI double.
Louisiana scored twice in the first inning as freshman Blaine Lucas' well-placed bunt scored Brooks Wright with two outs. The following batter, Mark Collins, then singled through the right side off Louisiana Tech starter Landon Fontenot to plate Lucas and give the Ragin' Cajuns a 2-0 lead.
The Bulldogs loaded the bases in the first inning off Louisiana starter Matt Osteen (0-1) and cut the lead to 2-1 on Sebastian Mexico's sacrifice fly to left. The Bulldogs tied the game in the second when Drost beat out a throw to the plate on a fielder's choice before the speedy right-fielder drove in a pair of runs with a one-out single in the third.
Louisiana closed to within 4-3 in the fourth on Griffin Hebert's RBI single to left before Louisiana Tech answered with two runs in the bottom half of the inning for a 6-3 lead.
Both teams traded runs in the fifth as Bellard belted a two-out homer to right for Louisiana before Trey Hawsey's solo homer in the bottom half for a 7-4 lead.
Bellard drove in Mandino with a two-out double down the right-field line to get Louisiana to within 7-5 before a two-run single by Coates seventh coupled by a wild pitch led to a three-run inning for the Bulldogs.
Louisiana kept battling in the eighth as a one-out walk to Lucas and infield singles by Collins and Hebert loaded the bases. But the Bulldogs would get out of the inning as reliever Nate Crider got a 4-6-3 double play to keep Louisiana off the board.
Conor Higgs hit his 11th home run of the season – a two-run shot to left field – to get Louisiana to within 10-7, but reliever Blake Hooks got a pair of strikeouts and a liner back to the mound to ice the win.
Bellard, Hebert and Collins had two hits each for Louisiana. Osteen, making his first collegiate start, allowed three runs in 2.1 innings for the Ragin' Cajuns.
Fontenot (1-0) earned the win for Louisiana Tech, holding the Ragin' Cajuns to a pair of hits and striking out four in 3.2 innings.
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Baseball season and single-game tickets are available for purchase online at RaginCajuns.com/tickets or by calling the Louisiana Athletics Ticket Office at (337) 482-GoUL (4685). Fans can also support the baseball student athletes, and invest in the program's future, through the Krewe Allons NIL Collective (click here).
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: Landon Fontenot (1-0)
L: Osteen, Matt (1-0)
Batting:
2B: Bellard, Kasen 1
3B: Mandino, Maddox 1
HR: Bellard, Kasen 1 ; Higgs, Conor 1
RBI: Bellard, Kasen 2 ; Lucas, Blaine 1 ; Collins, Mark 1 ; Hebert, Griffin 1 ; Higgs, Conor 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Bellard, Kasen 1 ; Wright, Brooks 1 ; Lucas, Blaine 2 ; Mandino, Maddox 2 ; Higgs, Conor 1
SB: Wright, Brooks 1 ; Lucas, Blaine 1 ; Hebert, Griffin 1
Batting:
2B: Colton Coates 1 ; Eli Berch 1
3B: Michael Ballard 1
HR: Trey Hawsey 1
RBI: Colton Coates 3 ; Michael Ballard 1 ; Sebastian Mexico 1 ; Zeb Ruddell 1 ; Brody Drost 2 ; Trey Hawsey 1
SH: Will Safford 2
SF: Sebastian Mexico 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Colton Coates 3 ; Garrison Berkley 1 ; Sebastian Mexico 1 ; Eli Berch 1 ; Brody Drost 2 ; Trey Hawsey 2
SB: Brody Drost 2
HBP: Garrison Berkley 2 ; Michael Ballard 1
Game Leaders
lf/cf
AB
4
R
2
H
3
RBI
0
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
IF/RHP
/ BaseballOF
/ BaseballIF/RHP
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
IF
/ BaseballOF/LHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
OF
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