Baseball – Cajun Cook-in’: Cajun sophomore starter Cook gives up only 3 hits to Nebraska

Joshua Parrott • jparrott@theadvertiser.com • February 22, 2009

With UL coming off a 15-inning marathon loss in its season-opener to Nebraska, coach Tony Robichaux looked for starter Michael Cook to set the tone in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader.

Cook delivered in a big way.

The sophomore stayed ahead in the count and limited his pitches as the Cajuns rebounded with a 2-1 win at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field.

"Those guys are great at fighting off pitches and hitting with two strikes," Robichaux said after the first game. "We wanted to try to keep our pitch count low and pitch to contact."

Cook made that happen for Louisiana, which lost the nightcap, 9-8.

The Lafayette High grad scattered three hits and one run in 6.2 innings of work.

He did not record a strikeout but walked only one batter and needed only 91 pitches to get his first win of the season.

Cook and reliever Luke Wagley combined on a three-hitter against a Nebraska program that is rebuilding after advancing last season to an NCAA Regional for the eighth time in the past nine years.

Last year, Cook held Nebraska to one unearned run on seven hits in seven innings but got a no-decision in a 4-3 loss that lasted 14 innings.

"They were a scrappy bunch of hitters," Cook said of Nebraska. "After what happened yesterday, I wanted to get out there and help get the team going back in the right direction.

"That’s the type of mentality you have to have as a starter."

Nebraska starter Mike Nesseth took the hard-luck loss after combining with reliever Joe Broekmeier to hold UL to two hits. The Cajuns (1-2), though, made the most of their limited offensive opportunities.

In the bottom of the first inning, UL’s Brian Bowman drew a lead-off walk. Kyle Bostick’s sacrifice bunt moved Bowman to second. After advancing to third on an error by Nebraska third baseman Cody Asche on Chad Keefer’s bouncer, Bowman scored the game’s first run on Scott Hawkins’ sacrifice fly to center field.

The Cajuns added an insurance run in the fifth when Bostick ripped an RBI single up the middle. That scored Greg Fontenot, who reached on a one-out double earlier in the inning.

Cook was replaced by reliever Luke Wagley after Nebraska’s Jeff Tezak made it 2-1 in the seventh on a run-scoring single to center.

Wagley retired all eight batters he faced in the final 2.1 innings and combined with Cook on a pitching gem. Nebraska (2-1) got into only three three-ball counts all night.

While UL managed only two hits, the Cajuns cut their strikeout total to seven. That’s 15 fewer strikeouts than the single-game school record they set in the season-opening loss.

"It’s always tough to come off a late game like we did," Bostick said. "We just stuck with our hitting approach and did a better job of battling through our at-bats."

Game 2

Nebraska rallied to win the back end of the doubleheader, 9-8, in the fifth consecutive one-run game between the teams.

The Cajuns led 4-2 before a 61-minute rain delay with one out in the top of the fourth. The Huskers scored eight of the game’s final 12 runs to grab the win.

UL took the loss despite finishing with 14 hits – three more than the team’s total in its previous two games. The Cajuns hit six batters, threw four wild pitches and committed three errors.

"We got way too many walks, wild pitches and hit batters," Robichaux said. "Our batters are starting to loosen up, but we’ve got to learn how to stick the ball in the gaps and stay in innings better."

Down 8-6 in the eighth, UL opened with back-to-back-to-back singles by Alex Fuselier, Scott Hawkins and Chad Keefer to make it a one-run game. Hawkins was picked off second base during Les Smith’s at-bat. Smith then lined out to Nebraska first baseman Cade Thompson, who stepped on first to double-up Keefer and end the inning.

The Huskers extended their lead to 9-7 on Kale Kiser’s solo homer in the top of the ninth. UL’s Chance Harst got his first hit of the season with solo blast to center in the bottom of the inning, but the Cajuns still fell short.

Reliever Luke Wagley took the loss for UL after giving up three runs in two-thirds of an inning. Nebraska’s Adam Bailey got the win after throwing 2.2 innings of one-run ball.

"They fight, and we fight," Nebraska coach Mike Anderson said. "We don’t give up. They don’t give up. What you have are two highly competitive teams that aren’t going to let anything go."