The early morning rain and hail held up first pitch in the rubber match on Sunday between the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns (16-12, 6-3 Sun Belt) and the South Alabama Jaguars (16-12, 6-3 Sun Belt).
The Cajuns not only had to deal with inclement weather, they had to deal with South Alabama getting out to an early 2-1 lead after a pair of solo shots. Despite that strong start offensively, Hogan Harris was able to right the ship and help get the Cajuns a much needed 10-2 win over the Jags to take their 11th straight Sun Belt Conference series.
“Once it happens, you can’t do anything about it. You might as well just keep going and not think about it.” Harris said of how he got over those solo home runs in the first and second innings.
“One run isn’t a big deal. The second one was a little frustrating, but we were only down by one and still had eight innings left. I wasn’t too worried about it.”
The Cajuns were able to tie things up in the bottom of the third when Ishmael Edwards hit an RBI single to center field. Two batters later, Joe Robbins sent one out to right center field to give them a 4-2 lead.
They weren’t done though as Edwards would hit a three-run inside the park home run to extend their lead to 8-2 in the bottom of the fourth. That play wound up giving the crowd some energy and began to turn into more offense.
Alex Pinero began to put the game away in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI single. The final nail would be put in by Steven Sensley with an RBI single of his own.
Harris improved to 3-0 on the year allowing two runs, six hits, walked two, and struck out seven batters in five innings of work.
The Cajuns will stay in the friendly confines of Russo Park on Tuesday when they take on Nicholls State (17-12) with first pitch set for 6 pm.
-Clint Domingue