Unexpected results.
They drive the game of baseball at times. It is a game full of quirks, surprises, and hard-to-explain results.
That was in full effect on Sunday at Pace-Riddle Field in Troy, Alabama.
The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns were playing the biggest game of their 2024 season so far on Sunday afternoon. After losing both Friday and Saturday to Troy, the Cajuns’ lead in the Sun Belt Conference was down to just one game/ With their RPI in a questionable place, a regular season SBC title is their clearest path to a likely NCAA Regional bid. A loss on Sunday would have meant a tie with the Trojans with six conference games remaining. A win meant a two-game advantage with room to breathe.
The game on Sunday began as the Cajuns needed it to, and they were playing with a sense of urgency.
After giving up a single run in each of the first two innings, Louisiana put together five runs over the next three frames, taking a 5-2 lead. Despite Troy getting it back to 5-4, the Cajuns added a five-spot in the seventh to go comfortably ahead at 10-4. By the ninth, the lead was 12-6 and it appeared that Matt Deggs’ bunch was going to cruise to their much-needed victory.
Then, the bottom of the ninth happened.
Two batters hit by a pitch, two walks, a single, and a grand slam followed, and all of a sudden Troy had put six runs on the board to tie the game. In a blink, all of the momentum had shifted to the home squad, and everything felt like Troy would pull off the sweep.
Even after the Cajuns got out of the inning to force extras, the momentum still seemed to sit in the Trojans dugout. The first two batters of the top of the tenth went down quickly, and Conor Higgs fell behind with two strikes in the count.
And then it happened.
There is an old baseball saying that says “Momentum is just your next day’s starting pitcher.” In this case, perhaps momentum was just the result of the next pitch.
Despite a stretch of gameplay that seemed disastrous and a situation that blended itself to likely failure, Higgs delivered. He launched a 2-2 pitch well over the right-center field wall, giving Louisiana a 13-12 lead. Back-to-back doubles followed, and the Cajuns led 14-12.
They held on to win 14-13. That means they now still hold a two-game lead in the conference with two weekends to go.
It was a season-changing swing, and it happened at one of the most unlikely moments. It showed resilience and grit, but also displayed the beauty of the game we call baseball.
Dawson Eiserloh is the co-host of “RP3, D-Loh & Meche” which is broadcast weekdays (11-1) on ESPN 103.7 Lafayette and 104.1 Lake Charles — Southwest Louisiana’s Sports Station.