Mistakes Cost Louisiana as Troy Evens Series With Unearned Runs

Contact: Matt Hebert

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LAFAYETTE – The Ragin' Cajuns baseball team got off to a promising start in the middle game of the Sun Belt series with Troy scoring a run in the first inning, but a pair of mistake-filled innings led to seven unearned runs which vaulted the Trojans to an 8-1 victory Saturday evening at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field.

Louisiana (21-24, 9-14 Sun Belt) committed a pair of two-out errors in second inning which allowed Troy (21-26, 9-14 Sun Belt) to grab its first lead of the weekend series. Then in the fourth inning another pair of errors and a pair of wild pitches resulted in five additional unearned runs which allowed the Trojans to pull away and even the series.

“Once the game turned on us we just couldn't get it turned back around,” head coach Tony Robichaux said. “There's no excuse for playing that bad a brand of baseball, bottom line. We've got to shake it and come back tomorrow and win this series.”

Once given the lead, Troy starting pitcher Joe Hernandez zeroed in holding the Cajuns hitless until the fourth inning and allowing only three hits and no runners past second base the final eight innings on the way to a complete game victory.

The Trojans defense backed up Hernandez by turning four double plays which, combined with three innings in which he retired the side in order, made for quick innings that kept his pitch count down.

The two teams conclude the series on Sunday at 1 p.m., with the rubber match. Louisiana will start freshman righthander Austin Robichaux (1-4, 3.41 ERA), giving head coach Tony Robichaux's son his first career Sun Belt start. Troy is scheduled to throw junior college transfer Ryan Brady (1-3, 3.05 ERA).

The Ragin' Cajuns need a victory on Sunday to avoid a Sun Belt series loss for the fourth consecutive weekend.

The loss broke the Cajuns' four-game win streak in Saturday contests, a streak which dated back to the Western Kentucky series (April 6-8). It also continued the trend of UL alternating wins and losses which has been an occurrence since the opening game of the FIU series (13 straight games).

Troy halted a five-game losing streak at “The Tigue”, posting a win at the facility for the first time since April 26, 2008.

The Cajuns and Trojans are now locked into a three-way tie for eighth place in the Sun Belt standings with Western Kentucky. With a win on Sunday, Louisiana which already owns the tiebreaker over Western Kentucky would claim the tiebreaker over Troy.

A leadoff walk by Brian Bowman led to a run for the Cajuns in the first inning. Bowman tagged and advanced to second base on a Jace Conrad fly out to left center, then scored when Dylan Butler sent a sharp grounder down the left field line.

Chase Compton drew a one-out walk to give the Cajuns a pair of runners on base. Hernandez was able to induce a double play ball from Tyler Girouard to keep Louisiana from adding more runs.

After back-to-back singles to start the Troy half of the second inning it appeared Chris Griffitt would escape unscathed after Tyler Hannah grounded into a double play. However, a fielding error by Girouard would allow Boone Shear (leadoff single) to score from third base to forge a tie. A wild pitch after a failed pickoff attempt scored another run and put Troy up 2-1.

Griffitt sat the Trojans down in order in the third inning, but more mistakes in the fourth inning allowed the visitors to take a sizeable lead.

A fielding error by Butler on a line drive to right field led off the inning, then an infield single and walk gave the Trojans a bases loaded situation with no outs. A sacrifice fly by Hannah opened the scoring and a subsequent fielding error reloaded the bases.

A hit by pitch forced home another Trojans run and ended Griffitt's night. Derek Howell relieved Griffitt, but before he could close out the frame Troy stretched the lead to 7-1 getting runs on a pair of infield singles and wild pitch.

“We let one error spin us out of control. You can't let that happen,” Robichaux said. “After we kicked the ball in right field we have to slow down as a pitching staff. Give them a run for the out and just got back to work and we'd only be down 3-1.

“We didn't do that, and we let the game get out of control. It's not our right fielder's fault. Anyone could have made that error. You've got to be able to come back after that error and keep the game from spinning out of control, and we couldn't get out of that inning fast enough.”

UL was unable to answer Troy's crooked number in the bottom of the fourth inning as Butler's leadoff double was erased when he was thrown out at third base on a grounder by Compton and Jordan Bourque hit into a double play.

The Trojans added the final tally in the seventh inning when Hannah rolled a single just under the reach of Bourque's glove at shortstop to plate Shear with this third run of the contest.

Unlike Troy, who rallied late in the contest on Friday evening, there would be no late-inning heroics for the Cajuns as they hit into double plays to close out the eighth and ninth inning.

BASES NOTED: The game was broadcast on the Sun Belt Network and was the second time M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field was featured on the network this season…The SBC televised the finale of the FIU series back on April 15…The seven unearned runs allowed were the most allowed by Cajuns pitching this season…Dylan Butler's RBI in the first inning was his 41^st of the season which ties him with Les Smith (41 in 2009) for the most RBI by a Cajuns freshman since Jonathan Lucroy posted 48 in 2005…Butler ended the night 2-for-4 which marked his 13^th multiple-hit game of the season…Ryan Leonards, who sat out the previous three games while Jordan Bourque started at shortstop, pinch hit in the eighth inning and registered his eighth double of the season…The announced crowd of 2,054 increased the total attendance for the 2012 season at “The Tigue” to 48,355 leaving the Cajuns 1,645 shy of reaching 50,000 in a total attendance for the fourth straight season and seventh time in the last eight seasons…The seven-run margin of defeat marked the Cajuns largest loss since falling 11-3 to Southern Miss on March 11…In order to win the series, the Cajuns will have to snap a string of three consecutive Sunday defeats…The four errors committed by UL tied a season-high (Feb. 22 at SLU, Feb. 24 vs. Towson, March 25 vs. Arkansas State)...Despite the loss, Cajuns pitching made it 29 straight games holding the opposition to single digits since surrendering 11 to Southern Miss on March 11…UL's pitching staff has held the opposition to single digits in 44 of 45 games this season…Chris Griffitt was handed his first loss since the Arkansas State series, but it was a hard-luck defeat as all seven runs he was charged with were unearned…The Cajuns bullpen bounced back from Friday's letdown by holding the Trojans to one run over the final five innings.

-- Ragin' Cajuns --

Mistakes Cost Louisiana as Troy Evens Series With Unearned Runs

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