After beating Texas State 12-6 earlier in the day, the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns punched their ticket to the Sun Belt Conference Tournament Championship by defeating the Bobcats a second time, 7-4.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Jesus Tovar started on the bump for Texas State. He gave up a walk to Noah Lewis but got out of the first unscathed.
Sawyer Pruitt got the start for the Cajuns and retired the Bobcats in order for a clean first inning.
In the fourth, the Cajuns struck first. Tovar walked Colt Brown, then hit Drew Markle to put runners on first and second. That brought up Mark Collins, who singled up the left side to drive in Brown and give UL a one-run lead.
Maddox Mandino then laid down a sacrifice bunt to eliminate the double-play ball and put both Markle and Collins in scoring position. Donovan LaSalle followed with a base-clearing single to score the speedy Markle and Collins, giving the Cajuns a 3-0 lead.
Manny Salas immediately responded for the Bobcats, blasting a solo home run to center to cut the Cajuns’ lead to two.
In the sixth, Tovar gave up a walk and singles to Collins and Mandino, bringing his night to a close.
Tovar’s final line: 5.1 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 4 K.
Cade Smith came on in relief for Tovar.
LaSalle delivered again for the Cajuns, driving in Collins with an insurance run on a single to left field. The run was charged to Tovar, and UL led by three.
Much like the fourth inning, Texas State — and Manny Salas — answered back. Salas doubled to left-center off Pruitt, then a wild pitch three batters later cut UL’s lead back to two.
Pruitt did not return for the seventh inning.
His final line: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K.
For a team that has fallen victim to late comebacks this season, UL made sure to put this one out of reach. In the top of the ninth, with two outs, Blaze Rodriguez and Lewis both earned free passes, setting up Lee Amedee to put his stamp on the game with a three-run blast to deep right field, making it 7-2 in favor of Louisiana.
In typical fashion for this game, Texas State answered again. With Ty Roman now in the game, he opened the bottom of the ninth with a strikeout. Jackson Cotton then singled, bringing up Justin Vossos, who launched a two-run homer over the left-field fence to trim UL’s lead to three.
Roman then walked Blake Beheler before recording a strikeout, allowing a single to Brady Boles, and picking up another strikeout.
With two runners on and the tying run at the plate, Roman recorded the final strikeout to send the Bobcats home and the Cajuns to the title game.
BIG NUMBER: 47
The Cajuns have scored 47 runs in this year’s Sun Belt Conference tournament, the most in school history. The previous record was in 1998, when UL scored 45 runs across five games in the conference tournament.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Sawyer Pruitt
After some less-than-stellar outings, his last few times out, and a depleted pitching staff, Louisiana really needed a length and quality from Pruitt, and he delivered. He handcuffed the Bobcats for 6 innings and fanned eight. The big win for Pruitt was limiting Texas State to one free pass.
UP NEXT: UL will take on the winner of Troy and Southern Miss tomorrow at 1 p.m. in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament Championship at DABOS Park.