Baseball: Alabama’s bats awaken to avoid sweep – Loss snaps UL’s 10-game winning streak

Kevin Foote, Daily Advertiser, Mar. 2, 2013

UL left-handed reliever Ryan Wilson was the most effective of the seven pitchers used by the Cajuns in Sunday’s 12-6 loss to Alabama. / Courtesy ragincajuns.com 

When a team is struggling at the plate as much as Alabama has been, it can be a little scary for the opposing coaching staff entering the final game of a weekend series that had gone so well.

On one hand, the No. 10-ranked UL Ragin’ Cajuns were confident after posting successive shutouts in the first two games of the series.

On the other hand, coach Tony Robichaux knew that Alabama’s bats were going to break out sooner or later. He hoped it would wait until Tuesday against Auburn in Montgomery, Ala.

Robichaux didn’t get his wish. After ending their 22-inning scoreless streak with a three-run frame in the first, the Crimson Tide went on to bust loose in style with a 21-hit performance in salvaging a game in the weekend series 12-6 over the Cajuns on Sunday at Tigue Moore Field.

“It did feel good,” said Alabama coach Mitch Gaspard, who was an assistant coach at UL under Mike Boulanger. “It’s been a real struggle for us (offensively) since opening day. We feel like we’ve got some talent. It was great to us have a game like that.

“I love series against veteran teams like this when you have a young team. They show you things that you have to improve upon. On Friday, they only got two hits, but they execute the double squeeze. I think it was a great learning experience for our kids.”

The loss snapped a 10-game winning streak for the Cajuns, who will next host Southeastern Louisiana at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Tigue Moore Field.

“It was their day,” Robichaux said. “They’re a solid SEC club. You kind of knew it would happen eventually. Their hitters did a much better job of not spinning off pitches today. They really stayed on top of the ball after the first inning and kept it up the middle.

“What you can’t do in a situation like that is extend life for a team (that’s due to score runs). You have to make them earn everything and we didn‘t do that.”

That started in the first inning. The game’s second batter hit a lazy fly ball to center that was dropped with one out. Four singles and an RBI double by Kyle Overstreet later, Alabama had plated three runs and was well on its way off UL starter Greg Milhorn.

The Tide only sent four to the plate in the second, but then got four more in the third off five more hits to grab a commanding 7-0 lead.

Austin Smith, who was 4-for-5 on the day with four RBIs, highlighted that frame with an RBI double. Ryan Wilson relieved Milhorn with one out in the frame.

Robichaux said after the loss that Milhorn, who yielded seven hits, six runs (three earned) with no walks or strikeouts in the loss, would not pitch against until Sunday after pitching in the mid-week game at LSU this past Tuesday.

The bright spot in the loss for Robichaux is the Cajuns’ offense did fight back by putting up four runs in the third innings itself.

Tyler Girouard led off with a hit and Chase Compton walked to set the table. Caleb Adams delivered an RBI double and after Blake Trahan walked with the bases loaded, Seth Harrison singled home two to narrow the gap to 7-4.

It got as close as 7-5 when Trahan walked with two outs in the fifth and Harrison singled him home.

“It was good to see our offense answer them a little bit,” Robichaux said. “We got it to six, but our pitching and defense just couldn’t cut off the faucet.”

A second dropped fly ball by the Cajuns kept Wilson from posting three straight scoreless innings and allowed Alabama to make it 8-5 in the sixth. That, however, was followed by single tallies in the seventh and eighth to hold off any Cajun comeback hopes.

“We just set a poor tempo in the first inning and that really put us in a bad position for the rest of the day,” Robichaux said. “We gave them life and give them credit, they took that life and ran with it.”