Baseball: Cajuns’ depth shines in blowout win

Kevin Foote, The Advertiser, June 6, 2016

UL’s Brian Mills scored a run and delivered a memorable two-run squeeze bunt during the Cajuns’ 10-3 win over Arizona on Sunday at Tigue Moore Field. (Photo: SCOTT CLAUSE/THE ADVERTISER)

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The No. 1-seeded UL Ragin’ Cajuns got plenty of contributions from the household names on the squad in Sunday’s 10-3 win over Arizona.

Stefan Trosclair was 2-for-3 with a homer and three RBIs.

Kyle Clement was 2-for-5 with a triple and an RBI.

Joe Robbins was 1-for-2 with three walks and an RBI.

And ace left-hander Gunner Leger picked up his seventh win of the season after allowing three runs on five hits in five innings.

But near the top of the list of factors that put the biggest smile on coach Tony Robichaux’s face after the easy win to advance to Monday’s 1 p.m. regional finals was the play of three of the club’s complementary players.

First, there was the speed and precision of rightfielder Brian Mills at the top of the order.

Mills’ impact began in the three-run fourth inning when he singled with one out and eventually scored to help UL take a 7-1 lead to the fifth inning.

It was Mills’ two-run squeeze bunt in the bottom of the fifth, though, that had so many talking after Sunday’s victory.

“I was expecting the pitcher to throw it way outside,” Mills said. “I had my mind set that no matter what I was going to get it down.”

He was true to his objective.

As Robichaux explained, Mills did it perfectly by bunting the high fastball right back to the pitcher. If he had bunted it to the third baseman, for instance, he might have eaten it, which would have prevented the second runner from scoring.

In fact, Mills was so intent on doing his job, he didn’t even realize the second run had scored.

“I didn’t know both runners scored until I got back in the dugout,” Mills said.

The beauty of the play-  that Robichaux gave Sam Houston State coach Matt Deggs credit for adding to UL’s arsenal – is that Mills has struggled with the bunt for much of the season.

“Before I got here, I didn’t bunt much,” Mills said.

Consequently, Mills revealed that graduate assistant coach Tyler Girouard instructed him to bunt a bucket of balls each day before taking batting practice.

It worked like a charm in Sunday’s win, but Mills wasn’t the only non-regular to contribute in a meaningful way.

Robichaux said the scouting report had Arizona starter J.C. Cloney as a “crossfire lefty,” which didn’t sound like a great matchup for UL freshman shortstop Hunter Kasuls.

Instead, Brad Antchak got the start at shortstop. In addition to fielding flawlessly, Antchak singled with one out to ignite UL’s three-run fourth and then got the bunt single in the fifth to eventually become the second baserunner to score on Mills’ squeeze bunt.

“That’s the platoon right there,” Robichaux said. “We’re starting to close up a lot of those holes (in bottom of lineup).”

The third example was a pitcher. While the stars of the Cajuns’ bullpen have been Eric Carter and Dylan Moore down the stretch, sometimes you need a performance like the one Jevin Huval delivered Sunday to maximize your elite late-inning arms.

After a five-inning, 98-pitch outing from Leger, Huval was able to finish off the game with four shutout innings on two hits, three walks and six strikeouts.

“My coaches always have to stop me from pitching D-Mo (Moore),” Robichaux said.

Because Huval pitched so effectively, the Cajuns should have full use of their top bullpen arms for Monday’s final round.