BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns defeated No. 1-ranked LSU 8-5 inside Alex Box Stadium on Tuesday night.
It was the first win against a No. 1-ranked team since beating LSU 4-1 in 2014. It was also the first midweek defeat of the season for the Tigers.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
LSU’s Javen Coleman looked sharp in his first action of the season as he struck out the first two hitters he faced and had 1-2-3 inning. The Tigers then took an early lead in the bottom of the first and did so with two outs.
Tommy White singled off of Louisiana starting pitcher Carson Fluno. Cade Beloso then tripled to left center field which scored White.
In the top of the second, Louisiana got on the board by getting to relief pitcher Thatcher Hurd.
Heath Hood led off with a single to left field and then John Taylor drew a walk. Both Hood and Taylor advanced to third and second base on a throwing error by Hurd.
A sacrifice bunt by Clay Wargo scored Hood and then Conor Higgs drew a walk. Will Veillon hit a single through the left side which scored Taylor.
LSU skipper Jay Johnson pulled Hurd and put in Riley Cooper. The Tigers caught a break when Higgs was caught stealing during a failed bunt attempt by CJ Willis.
Cooper then got Willis to ground out to get out of the inning.
Brayden Jobert led off the bottom frame with a double to right-center and then scored two batters later on a groundout by Jack Merrifield.
In the third, Louisiana retook the lead as Carson Roccaforte got a two-out single. Hood then took a pitch from Cooper and sent it over the left field landing seats for a two-run home run.
LSU answered in the bottom of the frame Jared Jones’ fly out scored Dylan Crews, who led off the inning with a walk.
Matt Deggs’ Louisiana squad scored another two runs in the fourth as Veillon doubled in Higgs and then pinch hitter Julian Brock singled in Veillon.
The Ragin’ Cajuns added two more runs in the seventh when Higgs took a Blake Money pitch and sent it into the bleachers behind the right field. That made it 8-3 Cajuns.
LSU cut into the lead in the bottom of the ninth when Tre Morgan hit a two-run home run off of Cooper Rawls. The Cajuns closer would settle down and strike out Crews, Beloso and Jones to end the game.
BIG NUMBER: 8
LSU and Louisiana combined to use eight different pitchers in Tuesday’s midweek clash. The Tigers used five different arms with Cooper getting the most time on the mound with pitching 3 1/3 innings of work. The Ragin’ Cajuns used only three pitchers with Christie getting the majority of work in relief as he pitched six innings.
PLAYERS OF THE GAME: CONOR HIGGS & DAVID CHRISTIE
Higgs led the Ragin’ Cajuns with three hits which included a two-run home run that landed in the right field bleachers in the seventh inning. Christie meanwhile came in relief and pitched a career-high six innings while giving up only one run on three hits.
UP NEXT: Louisiana (26-12) will travel for a three-game Sun Belt Conference series at James Madison (Friday to Sunday). LSU (29-7) will head over to Oxford, Mississippi for a three-game Southeastern Conference series against defending national champion Ole Miss (Friday to Sunday).