The Louisiana Ragin Cajuns wasted little time taking care of business on Wednesday afternoon with an emphatic 12-6 win over Texas State to begin pool play.
How It Happened
After two quick outs, the Ragin’ Cajuns put together an impressive two-out rally that began with a double to center field by Brennan Breaux. Ben Fitzgerald got the former St. Thomas More standout home with an RBI single to second base.
After Brandon Talley was walked, Connor Kimple got Fitzgerald home safely to give Louisiana an early 2-0 lead. The Cajuns weren’t done though, because after Talley stole home Bobby Lada ripped a bases-clearing triple to make it a 5-0 ballgame.
The Bobcats weren’t going to take that lying down and responded in the bottom of the second with a sac fly from Chase Evans that scored Bryce Bonner. Jaxon Williams followed that up by hitting an RBI double to right-center, cutting the deficit to three runs.
Kimple knocked in his second run of the evening in the top of the third with a sac fly to center field, scoring Brandon Talley to make it a 6-3 ballgame. Drake Osborn followed that up in the fourth inning with a two-run double to left-center field to continue to pull away.
The offense continued to dominate in the sixth inning with another two-out rally that started with Alex Hannie scoring off of a throwing error by the catcher off of a wild pitch. Jon Brandon put the game out of reach shortly after with a two-run triple to left-center.
Justin Thompson tried to keep Texas State in the game in the bottom of the seventh with a two-run single to right field after a throwing error by Hannie.
The Bobcats scratched another pair of runs across in the eight, but Austin Bradford was able to shut down the side in the ninth to secure the victory.
Big Number: 13
The number 13 wasn’t an unlucky number for the Cajuns, racking up 13 hits on the way to a convincing win to open up pool play. What was even stranger was seeing the Bobcats string together 13 hits as well, but only having six runs to show for it.
Player of the Game: Bobby Lada
Lada was an unsung hero in Tuesday night’s contest, going two-of-three at the dish with two RBIs. He’s had his moments throughout the season, but Wednesday was his night to shine for the vermilion and white.
Next Up: Thursday vs Appalachian State; First Pitch at 7 pm