Louisiana played their second straight home midweek game on Wednesday night, this time welcoming McNeese to town.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
During the first five innings, there were no runs scored and just five hits combined between both the Cajuns and the Cowboys. After a hit by pitch and a walk, Connor Cuff reached on a fielder’s choice to put runners at the corners. Then, the freshman sacrificed himself in the base path to allow a run to score and put the Cajuns ahead 1-0 after five innings.
In the sixth, Louisiana’s defense continued to shine as they caught a McNeese base runner off of first base on a liner to John Taylor to get the classic 4-3 double play. In the bottom half, Kyle DeBarge reached on a fluke play to record a double and extend his hitting streak to 12 games.
McNeese created some offense in the top of the eighth with a leadoff walk from former Cajun Peyton Lejeune before a fielder’s choice and a base hit to load the bases with no outs. The Cowboys got on the board with a bases-loaded walk to tie the game at 1-1.
In the bottom of the eighth, Louisiana regained the lead on an RBI single from Connor Higgs to score Duncan Pastore to give the Cajuns a 2-1 lead. The Cajuns added another one with a RBI single from Jose Torres to score and make it a 3-1 game. Louisiana added another one with a single from Caleb Stelly, but Torres was thrown out at third to end the inning.
Louisiana closed the door in the ninth inning to pick up a 4-1 win over McNeese to win 7 of their last 8 games.
BIG NUMBER: 3
A three-run eighth inning created offense for Louisiana and allowed them to pull away from McNeese.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Chase Morgan
Morgan had the best start of his career with 4 innings of one hit baseball and six punch outs to set the tone early in the Cajuns win.
UP NEXT: Louisiana will host Old Dominion for a three-game series at Russo Park. First pitch on Friday between the Cajuns and the Monarchs is set for 6:00 p.m.