After a thrilling walk-off victory on Friday night, the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns returned to Russo Park looking to take the series from #19 Dallas Baptist. However, that wouldn’t be the case as the Patriots put up a six-spot in the second inning and it was enough to hold off a four-run rally from the Cajuns in a 10-6 final.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
After a three up-three down start for the Cajuns’ defense, Friday night’s hero Luke Yuhasz led the game off by getting hit with a pitch. He then advanced to second on a wild pitch before moving over to third on a sacrifice bunt from Brooks Wright, who has had a tremendous start to his freshman campaign. Caleb Stelly then ripped a grounder to second base, but the ball was misplayed and Yuhasz was able to come in to score.
Dallas Baptist answered quickly with a strong inning of their own as Tom Poole was hit by a pitch, Michael Dattalo singled, and then a throwing error scored the tying run. However, the Patriots got a single from Berghult to give DBU the 2-1 lead. Then, a walk to Luke Heefner loaded the bases with nobody out and that would be it for Dilhoff.
The inning would continue as Keaton Grady got a two-run double before a sacrifice fly from Nathan Humphreys put DBU ahead 5-1 in the top of the second. The sixth run would come across on a first-pitch single from Chayton Krauss as it was now 6-1 in favor of the Patriots.
The offenses would stay fairly quiet until the bottom of the sixth when Owen Galt led off with a single for the Cajuns. After a Higgs sacrifice, Jose Torres got the run across with an RBI double to begin cutting into the lead.
After a two-out walk drawn by Sam Ardoin, Yuhasz delivered again with an RBI double down the left-field line to make it 6-3 with two more runners in scoring position. The freshman Brooks Wright then came through at the plate with a two-run single after saving some runs with his glove earlier in the contest.
In the eighth, DBU got one of the runs back on an RBI double from Michael Dattalo to put the Patriots ahead 7-5. Dattalo came around to score on a double play ball to make it a 8-5 game.
In the top of the ninth, the Patriots tacked on two more runs on a botched play that included a walk, wild pitch, and a throwing error to make it 10-5.
Louisiana got a run back in the bottom of the ninth on a RBI single from Lee Amedee that scored Caleb Stelly to make it 10-6, but the Patriots would be able to limit the damage and get the victory.
BIG NUMBER: 9
Louisiana stranded nine base runners in the contest as the offense struggled to convert outside of the sixth inning.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Ashton Branson
The junior relief pitcher came into a 6-5 ball game and shut the door on the Cajuns, pitching 2 strong innings of relief to help tie the series for DBU.
UP NEXT: The series finale between the Patriots and Cajuns will take place on Sunday with first pitch from Russo Park set for 1:00 p.m.