The 27th-ranked Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns baseball team scored six unanswered runs late, but saw its rally come up a run short on Friday night as the Cajuns fell 7-6 to Arkansas State in the series opener at Tomlinson Stadium.
The loss snaps the Ragin’ Cajuns four-game win streak and drops the squad to 16-10 on the year and 6-4 in Sun Belt play, while the Red Wolves improve to 13-12 overall and 4-6 in the league. For the first time on the season, the Cajuns dropped a game where they outhit their opponent after winning the first 12 contests where they achieved that feat.
Louisiana outhit A-State 11-9 in the game led by Kyle Clement and Steven Sensleywho each had a three-hit effort. Senior Brian Mills drove in two runs on the night.
“We’ve got to do a better job with two outs in the plate,” head coach Tony Robichaux said. “We didn’t capitalize on some opportunities early in the game, and that’s the reason why our five-run inning wasn’t relevant. You can’t wait to score until the sixth inning, and you cant wait until they load the bases. But, our hitters did do a good job of not dying and battling till the end.”
Sophomore left-hander Gunner Leger (3-2) suffered his second loss of the season giving up five runs on five hits with three walks and two strikeouts in four innings.Will Bacon and Jevin Huval combined to toss two scoreless innings in relief for the Cajuns.
Tyler Zuber (3-2) picked up the win for Arkansas State despite giving up five runs (four earned) on seven hits with five walks and four strikeouts in 5.1 innings.
ASU closer Tanner Ring notched his third save of the season holding the Cajuns scoreless over the final two frames with a walk and a strikeout.
Arkansas State jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the third. Tanner Ring gave the Red Wolves a 1-0 edge on a two-out single up the middle. In the next at bat, Matt Burgess delivered a three-run homer to left field on the first pitch he saw from Leger to extend the ASU lead to four runs.
The Red Wolves tacked on a run in the bottom of the fourth on a Ty White RBI single down the left field line to make the score 5-0.
In the bottom of the fifth, Arkansas State extended the lead to 7-0 on an RBI triple by Joe Schrimpf and a safety squeeze by Frankie Alvarez.
The Ragin’ Cajuns exploded for five runs on five hits and an ASU error in the top of the sixth to cut the Red Wolves advantage to 7-5. Stefan Trosclair got the scoring going as he singled home Joe Robbins with no outs. Later in the inning, Nick Thurman brought home Trosclair on a ball hit to third base to cut the lead to 7-2. In the next at bat, Kennon Fontenot drove an RBI single up the middle to make it a four-run game. Mills capped the scoring in the inning with a 2-run single through the left side of the infield.
Sensley pulled Louisiana within a run in the top of the seventh singling Clement home from second to make the score 7-6.
The Ragin’ Cajuns best chance to tie the game came in the top of the ninth when Trosclair hammered a 1-0 pitch from Ring but came up just inches short of his fourth home run of the year as Tony Ortiz made a tough grab at the top of the fence in left for the first out of the inning. Ring would get Thurman to ground out with a runner on first to end the contest.
The Cajuns and Red Wolves return to action tomorrow at 4 p.m. with sophomore right-hander Wyatt Marks (2-2, 4.85 ERA) making the start for Louisiana. ASU will counter with right-hander Adam Grantham (1-2, 4.45 ERA).
