Athletics: Top Ragin’ Cajuns postseason heartbreaks

Kevin Foote, The Advertiser, May 26, 2015

 

One year after pitching the Cajuns to a third-place finish at the Women’s College World Series in 1993, All-American pitcher Kyla Hall, center, suffered a heartbreaking 3-2 defeat in 8 innings to Utah in the NCAA Lafayette Regional in 1994.(Photo: Advertiser file photo)

 

It turned out being the brutal beginning to a storybook happy ending for the UL baseball team, but hard-core Ragin’ Cajun fans were forced to endure two of the most unlikely, heartbreaking postseason setbacks in athletic department’s history last week.

On Wednesday, the baseball team made two costly errors in the last inning to give an 8-7 win to Texas State in the Sun Belt Tournament opener.

On Friday, the softball team led 10-5 with two outs and two on in the bottom of the seventh in game one of the Super Regionals at Auburn, only to suffer through six straight walks (16 total) and eventually lose 12-11 in eight innings.

So that made me wonder where those two gut-wrenchers rank historically among agonizing postseason losses.

Also, the baseball team’s redemption story just might be the best one ever.

After requesting some input from Cajun fans on both themes, below are some of the suggestions (along with a few of my own) that stuck out the most in my mind in terms of heartbreaking postseason losses (in no particular order):

Tennessee 73, UL 72

(March 20, 1985)

Long before the Brett Smith phantom foul in the 2000 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament (an agonizing 63-58 loss in its own right), there was his NIT second-round loss at Tennessee in 1985.

The Cajuns had defeated Florida 65-64 in the first round in Blackham Coliseum and held a five-point lead with 23 seconds left to play at Tennessee.

But the Cajuns missed some critical free throws down the stretch and suffered a costly turnover to help Tennessee somehow pull out a 73-72 win behind 25 points from sharpshooter Tony White.

UL was led by Drexal Allen’s 21 points, as well as Cedric Hill’s 20 points on 10-of-15 shooting in the loss that still tugs at the heart of longtime Cajun fans to this day.

Utah 3, UL 2 (8 inn.)

(May 22, 1994)

It was the year after the Cajuns’ softball program had broken through with its first trip to the Women’s College World Series, and UL was hosting at Lady Cajun Park.

After beating McNeese State 3-0 and Utah 1-0 in 9 innings behind All-American Kyla Hall, the Cajuns took a 2-0 lead into the fifth inning of the championship game. Instead of dogpiling, though, UL watched the Utes rally for a run in the fifth and another in the sixth to force extra innings.

Utah then scored in the bottom of the eight to force a second game. In that "if necessary" game, Utah scored two runs in the first inning and never looked back in eliminating the Cajuns 2-0.

USM 14, UL 10

(May 25, 1990)

Long before the softball team’s squandered five-run lead at Auburn or the baseball team’s three-run lead that faded away against Texas State in the SBC Tournament opener, there was this one that got away.

It had all the signs of the first NCAA win in the program’s history in only its second NCAA Regional appearance. After falling to LSU 8-0 in the opener, the Cajuns’ bats exploded out to a 10-2 lead in the sixth inning.

Instead of being that first NCAA win, though, the Eagles rallied for five runs in the seventh inning and ended up defeating UL 14-10 to postpone UL’s first NCAA win a year – an 11-7 win over Northwestern State before beating South Alabama 6-3 and Texas A&M 13-10 in the 1991 NCAA Baton Rouge Regional.

New Mexico St. 81, UL 73

(March 22, 1992)

The last time the UL Ragin’ Cajuns men’s basketball team won an NCAA Tournament game was 87-83 over No. 4 Oklahoma in 1992. That same weekend, No. 12 New Mexico State upset No. 5 DePaul.

It was a great opportunity for the Cajuns to reach the Sweet 16 and earn a matchup with legendary UCLA. The Cajuns led for the vast majority of the first three-quarters of the contest. Eventually, though, the calls made by the crew of John Clougherty, Larry Rose and Edwin Edsall wore down the Cajuns’ lead.

The Cajuns were whistled for 24 fouls in the game, compared to just eight against the Aggies. As a result, New Mexico State made 27 of 35 tries at the line, while UL settled for two free throws in five attempts to foil UL’s big shot at the Sweet 16.

UMass 5, UL 3 (13 inn.)

(May 16, 2002)

By this program’s standards, the Cajuns had endured a bit of a frustrating stretch coming into the 2002 Lafayette Regional.

After another WCWS appearance in 1996, UL was beaten twice in the final day in the 1997 Regional, missed the NCAA altogether for the first time since 1989, lost twice on the final day to Cal in 1999, lost two of three at Baton Rouge Regional in 2000 and was eliminated by LSU in the Baton Rouge Regional in 2001.

Back home in Lafayette for the first time since 1997, the Cajuns led 2-1 going into the seventh in the opener against UMass, only to give up a run in the seventh to force extra innings. After the two teams each scored in the ninth, visiting UMass rallied for two runs in the top of the 13th to claim the 5-3 upset win.

UL would rebound to handle Mississippi State 10-3 in the next game, but then would be eliminated by LSU 5-2.