The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns defeated the Georgia State Panthers 14-1 in game one of their three-game Sun Belt Conference series at M.L. Tigue Moore Field at Russo Park on Saturday afternoon. The program retired the jersey #21 of program legend Jonathan Lucroy before the game.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Due to bad weather on Friday night, this was game one of the series instead of game two. Louisiana went with Andrew Herrmann to start this game, needing a win to tie Georgia State in the SBC standings.
Herrmann worked around an infield hit in the first inning to put up an opening zero on the board.
He was opposed by Brian Crooms for Georgia State. He allowed a leadoff hit by pitch, but navigated around it to also put up a zero and keep the game tied early.
The Louisiana offense came to life in the second inning. Colt Brown started it off with a solo home run to get the lead. Small ball tactics then helped to score the next two runs and the Cajuns took a 3-0 lead.
They would extend that lead in the third, grabbing seven more and making Georgia State go deep into their bullpen in the process. Brown and Steven Spalitta had RBI singles while Drew Markle had the RBI double to make it 7-0 in favor of Louisiana. An RBI walk and an errant pickoff attempt made for the last three runs allowing UL to take a 10-0 advantage.
In the fourth, Louisiana extended the lead again. This time, it was a mammoth three-run home run by Donovan Lasalle that went 424 feet. That made it 13-0, with Herrmann still cruising on the mound.
Louisiana would add one more in the sixth, and Georgia State did get on the board in the seventh. However, they only got one, as Herrmann went the distance in a 14-1 victory.
BIG NUMBER: 21
Today was all about Lucroy for the Cajuns. The former MLB All-Star batted .356 in his college career at UL, hitting 35 home runs and driving in 184 runs. He was named a Freshman All-American and two-time All-Sun Belt performer. In the Major Leagues, he was a two-time All-Star with more than 100 home runs and 500 RBIs. He also represented Team USA in the World Baseball Classic and helped bring home the gold medal in 2017.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Andrew Herrmann
Herrmann went all seven innings, cruising to a complete game victory. He allowed the Cajuns’ bullpen to be fully fresh for the last two games of the series.
UP NEXT: The teams will play game two of the double-header tonight at 6:00.