Throughout the first day of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, the lower seeds took down the higher seeds. That is until the Ragin Cajuns came to play. Arkansas State gave them a scare, but the Cajuns were able to come away with the win.
The Red Wolves got on the board in the top of the first when Ty White scored off of a wild pitch. The Cajuns responded in the bottom half of the inning with Hunter Kasuls scoring off of a groundout by Joe Robbins to tie things up.
The Cajuns took the lead in bottom of the third when Kyle Clement was walked with the bases loaded. Stefan Trosclair extended the lead in the bottom half of the inning with a sac fly to center field that allowed Kasuls to score. Brenn Conrad then made it 4-1 with a groundout to second base that allowed Robbins to score.
But the Red Wolves responded with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth, highlighted by an RBI single from Tony Ortiz to cut the lead down to one. Arkansas State would tie things up in the top of the sixth with a solo shot to left center from Daltan Lovell.
But it was Clement who would give the Cajuns the lead with the eventual game-winner, a three run blast to right field in the bottom of the eighth.
Eric Carter improved to 5-2 on the year throwing three and two-thirds shutout innings, not allowing a hit, and striking out nine of the 12 batters he faced. The Cajuns totaled for 20 strikeouts on Wednesday night.
The Cajuns will move on to the winner’s bracket to take on host team Texas State with first pitch scheduled for 7:30 pm.
-Clint Domingue