Louisiana had two runners aboard in each of the final three innings of the Sun Belt series opener with South Alabama on Friday at M.L. "Tigue" Moore, but the timely hit off of Garrett Harris never came and the Ragin’ Cajuns were dealt a 3-1 defeat.  

In the seventh inning Jordan Bourque grounded into a double play to end the inning. Then in the eighth and ninth inning Jordan Poirrier and Michael Strentz flied out, respectively, to allow Harris to escape with the victory.

Louisiana (21-18, 8-8 Sun Belt) was playing from behind because South Alabama (22-16, 9-7 Sun Belt) capitalized on free passes to produce its runs in the second and fifth inning.

The loss spoiled an evening in which the Cajuns and head coach Tony Robichaux welcomed the millionth fan into "The Tigue". UL had a six-game win streak at the facility snapped.

Taylor Hubbell had to leave the park with a hard-luck loss allowing just four hits over seven innings. He’ll look back on a hit by pitch with two outs in the second inning and back-to-back, two-out walks in the fifth inning which led to the only runs he allowed.

The Cajuns and Jaguars continue the weekend series on Saturday at 6 p.m. Joe Zimmermann (1-3, 4.42 ERA) will start for UL and Dustin Crenshaw (6-1, 3.27 ERA) will go for USA.

Harris finished the night scattering six hits over 127 pitches in the complete game victory which increased the Jaguars winning streak to seven games. His only mistake was the first pitch of the sixth inning which was driven over the left field wall by Michael Strentz.

The loss drops the Cajuns into fifth place in the Sun Belt standings, tied with FIU. UL fell to four game behind league-leader Troy in the standings as the Trojans improved to 12-4 in SBC play with a 6-3 win over Western Kentucky.

Both pitchers worked around a single in the first inning and came away unscathed.

The Jags plated the game’s first run in the second inning after Hubbell plunked Brad Hook with two outs. Hunt Griffith followed with a shallow fly to left field that Daniel Nichols attempted to make a diving catch on. Nichols missed allowing the ball to roll to the outfield fence and Hook motored around third base for the tally.

Harris retired UL in order in the second inning and in the third inning an infield single by Tyler Frederick with two outs was the only blemish.

Hubbell was able to wiggle out of runner on third base with two-out situation in both the third and fourth inning to hold the Jags at one run.

Hubbell issued back-to-back walks with two outs in the fifth inning and USA capitalized on the free passes. Tanner doubled deep to right field to bring home Taylor White and Nolan Earley extending the lead to 3-0.

The Cajuns broke through on Harris in the sixth inning when Strentz took the first offering of the frame and drove it over the left field wall for his third home run of the season.

Joey Satriano relieved Hubbell in the eighth inning and kept the Jaguars at bay after a sacrifice bunt moved runners to second and third base. He induced a ground out to third base off the bat of Trey Sorrells and Hook filed out to right field for the final out.

BASES NOTED: Friday’s game was No. 999 of the Tony Robichaux Era…Taylor Hubbell had allowed just three runs over his first 33 innings of work at "The Tigue" in 2011 and the Jaguars matched that total…Michael Strentz’s home run in the sixth inning marked his first homer at "The Tigue"…USA has now won four straight over the Cajuns at "The Tigue" a streak which began with a series sweep in April 2009…The Cajuns played their 18^th error free contest of the season, losing for only the fourth time when doing so…UL pitching held the opposition to five runs or less for the 27^th time in 39 games (19-8 record)…Alex Fuselier picked up a hit extending his current string of hitting safely to 19 of his last 21 games played (goes back to March 19 vs. La.-Monroe)…Fuselier, who posted a pair of seven game hitting streaks during the streak, is now on a five-game hitting streak…Louisiana has held the opposition to single digit runs in 69 of the past 71 games dating back to April 2010.

— Ragin’ Cajuns —