Baseball: Strong Pitching Guides Louisiana to 5-2 Win

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MONROE, La. – Behind impressive pitching and great defense, Louisiana took game two from ULM, 5-2, to secure its second-straight Sun Belt series at Warhawk Field on Friday night.

Connor Cooke (3-2) earned his third win of the season, spinning five innings of one-run baseball and tying a career high with nine strikeouts.

Tyler Robertson and Connor Kimple both collected two hits for Louisiana, with Kimple roping his fourth double of the season.

To start the game, Louisiana was unable to plate a run in the first inning, squandering Kimple’s leadoff double.

ULM got the first run in Friday night’s contest on an inside the park home run. The home run scooted past a diving Carson Roccaforte and Travis Washburn never stopped out of the box, putting ULM ahead 1-0.

The Ragin’ Cajuns responded by plating two runs in the top of the fifth inning. Anthony Catalano hit an RBI-single up the middle and Brennan Breaux, who entered the game for Alex Hannie, grounded out to first, moving the runner on third home.

On his second pinch-hit appearance of the series, Josh Cofield delivered another run, scoring Drake Osborn on a double down the line, putting Louisiana up 3-1 in the top of the sixth inning.

To start the bottom half of the sixth, Chipper Menard entered and relieved Cooke, but exited after walking a in batter.

Hayden Durke replaced Menard with the bases loaded and threw three-straight balls before battling back to get a fly out to centerfield to end the inning. Louisiana led 3-2 after the sixth inning.

The Ragin’ Cajuns took ULM’s run back it got in the sixth by scoring a run on a throwing error by the third baseman, allowing Breaux to score from third.

Set up by a double by Drake Osborn, Cofield brought home another run on an RBI-ground out, making the game 5-2.

Brandon Talley earned the save, his third of the year, closing out the 5-2 in favor of Louisiana.

The Ragin’ Cajuns will go for the sweep on Saturday afternoon, with first pitch at 2 p.m.