Baseball: Adams’ Big Day at the Plate Locks Up Sacred Heart Series

• Box Score

LAFAYETTE – Caleb Adams powered the offense with three home runs and Cody Boutte made it three wins in three starts as the Ragin’ Cajuns baseball team topped Sacred Heart University 8-2 here Saturday afternoon at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field.

 

 Athletic Network Footnote: Mark Your Calendar
Baseball Alumni Weekend is April 19-21, 2013 when the Cajuns play FAU. More details will be provided later on the Ragin’ Cajuns Reunion and Special Events (banner on the right side of the news box at www.athleticnetwork.net

 

With the win Louisiana (10-2) captured a series victory for the third time in as many weekends to start the 2013 season. The Cajuns go for the sweep of the Pioneers (0-2) on Sunday at 1 p.m., with Austin Robichaux on the mound.

Adams became the first Cajun with three home runs since Kolin Hatfield at FIU in March 2007 and drove home five of the Cajuns eight runs.

Adams’ first two home runs were two-run shots, the first giving UL a 3-0 lead in the second inning and the second increasing the lead to 7-1 in the fifth inning.

Boutte scattered seven hits over five-plus innings and tied his season-high with five strikeouts. Relievers Nick Zaunbrecher and Kendall Mayer combined to hold SHU to one run on three hits over the final four frames.

Louisiana scored in each of the first three innings, building a 4-0 lead, and coasted to the victory which upped the team’s record to 8-1 in weekend series.

Michael Strentz picked up his fourth multi-hit game, finishing 3-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBI. After SHU plated a run in the top of the fifth to trim the deficit to 4-1, Strentz answered by leading off the Cajuns half of the fifth with a solo home run to straightaway center field.

Eight of the nine Cajuns starters collected at least one base hit as the squad piled up 12 off of Pioneers pitching.

Nick Leiningen took the loss for Sacred Heart after surrendering seven runs off 10 Cajuns hits in 4 2/3 innings. Relievers Dan Wertz and Nick Morrissey combined to hold UL to one run and two hits over the final 2 1/3 innings.

Strentz brought home the first run of the day after he followed up a two-out double from Seth Harrison in the first inning with a single to left field that scored Harrison for a 1-0 lead.

Boutte bounced back from a leadoff double by Dan Perez in the top of the second inning to retire the next three SHU hitters, then three batters into the Cajuns half of the second inning Adams launched the first of three home runs upping the lead to 3-0.

Strentz’s second hit of the contest was a single to start the bottom of the third. He would later score on a Ryan Wilson sacrifice fly and it was 4-0.

Three straight singles off of Boutte in the fifth inning resulted in the Pioneers’ first run. Keaton Flint was the third straight SHU hitter to reach, driving home Jesus Medina. Brian Lamboy lined into a double play as Boutte kept the Pioneers from inching closer.

Home runs from Strentz (leadoff) and Adams (two-run with two outs) extended the Cajuns lead to 7-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning.

A leadoff double off of Boutte, followed by a Zaunbrecher walk gave SHU two runners aboard to start the sixth inning. Zaunbrecher kept the Pioneers from answering the Cajuns fifth-inning tally as he induced an infield pop up, struck out Derick Horn and forced Victor Sorrento to fly out to right field.

Defense and pitching dominated the final three innings. The teams would trade single runs in the eighth inning.

BASES NOTED: The Cajuns scored first for the second straight day and never trailed…Louisiana has not faced a deficit in the series and hasn’t trailed since Tuesday’s LSU game…Louisiana’s starting lineup featured nine right-handed hitters…Lefthanders Chase Compton (1B) and Jace Conrad (2B), regular starers, had the day off…Caleb Adams became only the eighth player in school history to hit three home runs in a game…He was the first Cajun to hit three home runs at “The Tigue” since Papo Ramos hit three on April 8, 1992 vs. McNeese State…The list of Cajuns with three home runs includes: Perry Berry (2/10/90), Greg Blevins (4/30/90), Chris Benhardt (3/2/91), Papo Ramos (4/8/92), Chase Lambin (5/11/02), Corey Coles (4/26/03), Kolin Hatfield (3/31/07) and Caleb Adams (3/2/13)…Seth Harrison’s double in the first inning extended his hitting streak to seven games, the longest current active streak and longest by a Cajun this year…During the seven-game hitting streak, Harrison is batting .407 (11-for-27)…Michael Strentz reclaimed the team lead in batting average, as his 3-for-4 showing upped his season average to .395 (17-of-43)…Ryan Leonards started at second base, his first start in the infield this season…Leonards, who has career starts at third base, shortstop and left field, started at second base for the first time in his career…The Cajuns posted five extra base hits off of Sacred Heart pitching for the second straight outing and now have 10 in the series…Louisiana’s team slugging percentage in the series is .619 as 10 of the squad’s 20 hits have been for extra bases…The four home runs hit as a team marked the most for UL since clubbing four at ULM on May 20, 2011…Time of the game was 2 hours, 12 minutes marking the fifth straight game played in less than 2 hours, 20 minutes…The Cajuns’ 10-2 record is the best mark through 12 games since the 2007 squad began 11-1…With the win, head coach Tony Robichaux moved 200 games above the .500 mark as Cajuns skipper, improving to 641-441-1…Cody Boutte picked up his 19^th collegiate victory, improving to 19-3 in a career that includes junior college stops at LSU-Shreveport (7-2 in 2011) and LSU-Eunice (9-1 in 2012).

LINE SCORE

Louisiana 8, Sacred Heart 2 (Mar 02, 2013 at Lafayette, La.)

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Sacred Heart…….. 000 010 010 – 2 10 0 (0-2)

Louisiana……….. 121 030 01X – 8 12 0 (10-2)

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Pitchers: Sacred Heart – Leiningen, Nick; Wertz, Dan (5); Morrissey, Nick (7). Louisiana – Boutte, Cody; Zaunbrecher, Nick (6); Mayer, Kendall (9)

Win-Boutte, Cody (3-0) Loss-Leiningen, Nick (0-1) T-2:12 A-1711

HR SHU – Murphy, John (1)

HR UL – Strentz, Michael (2); Adams, Caleb 3 (3)

Weather: 46, partly cloudy, NW @ 15 MPH

— Ragin’ Cajuns —