One of the big things that head coach Tony Robichaux talked about on Monday afternoon was the fact that they weren’t hitting that well when they were inside the friendly confines of Russo Park. Tuesday night was just what the doctor ordered with the Cajuns offense finding new life en route to an 8-3 win over Northwestern State.
How It Happened:
The Demons drew first blood with an RBI single up the middle from Hayden Brown. That was followed up in the second inning when Larson Fontenot drilled a double out to left field to make it a 2-0 ballgame.
The Cajuns responded shortly thereafter with a sac fly from Kole McKinnon and an RBI triple from Alex Hannie to tie things up. However, JP Lagreco capitalized off of an error by Brennan Breaux, who got caught up in the lights, resulting in a 3-2 lead for the Demons.
Hayden Cantrelle started the bottom of the third with a triple out to right center field and was able to get home when Breaux hit an RBI single. The stalemate was broken up in the bottom of the fifth when Hunter Kasuls smoked a triple all the way down the right field line to get two runs across.
Cantrelle found paydirt in the sixth when he drilled a solo home run to right center, making it a 6-3 ballgame.
Hunter Kasuls helped close the door shut in the eighth inning with a ground-rule double, scoring Cantrelle in the process.
Big Number: 6
The Cajuns pitching staff was solid, especially in the later innings, but one thing stood out and that was the amount of hit batters. Blake Schultz and Connor Cooke combined to hit six batters in the win and if not for the offensive explosion, it could’ve been a different story.
Player of the Game: Hayden Cantrelle
The spark plug for the Cajuns offense on Tuesday was without a doubt Hayden Cantrelle who kept the momentum from the series at Little Rock. The former Teurlings Rebel hit for the cycle, becoming the first Cajun to achieve the feat since Stefan Trosclair did it against UT Arlington back on May 1st, 2016.
Next Game: Wednesday at Tulane; First Pitch at 6:30 pm
-Clint Domingue