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Baseball: Cajuns Fall One Win Short Of OmahaLAFAYETTE, La. – The top-ranked Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns baseball team fell one win short of the program’s second trip to the College World Series on Monday after a 10-4 loss to Ole Miss in the decisive game of the Lafayette Super Regional at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field.
The Cajuns (58-10) finish the season with the most wins in both program and Sun Belt history despite losing back-to-back games for the first time this season. Ole Miss (46-19) advances to the Omaha this weekend.
“I want to give credit to Ole Miss and Mike [Bianco] for coming in and being able to be down one game and come back and win two straight,” head coach Tony Robichaux said. “You have to give credit to them. There’s no better feeling than when you get that last out to get to Omaha, and on the other side of it there’s going to be a team that’s not going to feel real good. I’m proud of our players, what they’ve accomplished this year, what they gave us this year as men. I just can’t be any more proud of our guys, the way they fought, all sea- son long, what they’ve accomplished, but you have to give credit where credit is due.
“Ole Miss pitched very well, they kept us from having big innings, and we didn’t slow them down. We’d have a walk here and a base hit here, and we’d score one but we never could really stop the bleeding. Give them credit, they really turned us around in that last inning, and got the big inning, and that’s the one thing we want to try to stay away from with them is the big inning; we never got the big inning tonight, and they got one, and they got one deep in the game, and that’s what did us in.”
Senior Cody Boutte (9-1) was handed his first loss of the season in the contest after giving up four runs on five hits with two strikeouts and a walk in four innings.
Reliever Scott Weathersby picked up the victory for Ole Miss to move to 3-1 on the season, throwing two scoreless innings in relief with two strikeouts.
Both Seth Harrison and Ryan Leonards had three hits in the contest as the Ragin’ Cajuns outhit Ole Miss, 10-9. Austin Anderson and Auston Bousfield each had two hits for the Rebels with Anderson driving in a game-high two runs.
Louisiana broke through in the bottom of the third on a sac fly to left by designated hitter Tyler Girouard which scored Leonards from third. Leonards led off the inning with a double to center and then moved to third on a sac bunt by Jace Conrad.
Ole Miss answered in the top of the fourth on a two-run homer by Anderson to right field to make the score 2-1 Rebels. Two batters later, Sikes Orvis launched a solo home run to right to extend the lead to two runs.
Strentz got a run back for the Cajuns in the bottom of the fourth, driving in Chase Compton on a RBI ground out to third base. Later in the inning, Leonards tied the game at 3-all as he lined a double into the gap in left center to score Dylan Butler.
The Rebels scored a run in the top of the fifth without the benefit of a hit as Braxton Lee scored on a passed ball with the bases loaded to give Ole Miss the lead for good. Lee was hit by a pitch to start the inning and advanced to third after a walk to Anderson and Orvis was hit by a pitch.
In the top of the sixth, Auston Bousfield added a run for the Rebs on a two-out double down the left field line scoring Lee from first to make the score 5-3.
The Ragin’ Cajuns pulled within a run in the bottom of the seventh on a two-out RBI double down the left field line. Tyler Girouard scored on the hit, while Caleb Adams was thrown out at the plate to end the inning.
Lee gave Mississippi an insurance run in the top of the eighth on a sac fly to left to make the score 6-4 Rebs.
Ole Miss added four runs on three hits and two walks in the top of the ninth to put the game out of reach. A bases-clearing double by Holt Perdzock highlighted the scoring in the inning.
Louisiana Head Coach Tony Robichaux Quotes
On the season: “We’re going to focus on what they really accomplished. If we’re sitting here in June, and that’s only their 10th loss, to reel off 58 wins like they did, to win a conference championship, a conference tournament championship, a regional championship, and then host a regional and super regional, hosting the supers has never been done here. What they accomplished is really phenomenal, for me and for our coaching staff; we’ve got a great coaching staff.
“And these guys just played their hearts out, and I think that’s why you see the passion, the emotion with them. They know they were good enough to get there, the problem is that there’s a lot of people home today believing that they were good enough too, but only eight [teams] go. And that’s what makes Omaha special. That’s what makes, when you walk through the door of Rosenblatt Stadium, that’s what makes it so special, is that you’ve got eight people who had to endure so much to be able to get there, it makes it a spe- cial venue. I’m just proud of what these guys accomplished, and some of the things they were able to do for the first time in our school’s history.”
On starting pitcher Cody Boutte’s performance: “We’ve said it before, we have to locate, we have to stay down. They [Ole Miss] can hammer pitches that you leave out in the middle of the plate and up, and he got a couple pitches up, and they put some good swings on it. This is a good baseball team.
“We were fortunate enough in game one to overcome the three-run inning with Austin [Robichaux], and after that we really needed to get back on track to stay away from the three-run inning. They weren’t able to stay away from the three-run inning, but as they got moving on to Game 2 and 3 tonight, they never gave up the three-run inning and we gave up two of them. That’s two of the things that’ll do you in.
“We fought back, we got it to 3-3, and then we had a leadoff walk and then a double and he scores from first. We didn’t give them anything, they’ve earned what they got, believe me, because they’re going to Omaha. This team, we knew, was good coming into here, and we knew we’d have to score some runs to com- pete against them. They’re so balanced up and down, his mix of lefties and righties is just a great balance. We felt we matched up good with the lefty, we got going, and all of a sudden we made a couple mistakes and they got the ball out of the ballpark on us. ”
On his message to the seniors: “I just told them that we wanted to get to Omaha with every fiber of our body, but we don’t need that to validate who you are. You can read the Bible cover to cover, and nowhere in there does it say that you need to be a baseball player. But it’s pretty clear what kind of man you need to become, and that’s what I’m proud of with these guys, because that’s men out there. That’s guys with character, and you’re going to live the rest of your life, I told them, a lot longer on your moral character than you are on your baseball character. That’s what I was proud of; who they are and the men they’ve become through this journey.”
UL CF Seth Harrison Quotes
On the out at home to end the 7th inning: “This game is a lot about momentum. We had the momentum going our way, and that play took it and gave it back to Ole Miss. They did a great job relaying it in. They got the call, and Caleb was out. We came back and tried to respond and fight the rest of the game, and it just didn’t work out.”
On what the team will remember about this season: “Our team, the unity, the passion. I’ll never forget. I’d do anything for these guys.”
UL 3B Ryan Leonards Quotes
On the team’s struggles in the third game: “I think the bullpen did a pretty good job. They came in and competed; they did what they’ve been doing all year. As far as for us not having a big inning, they [Ole Miss] just pitched really well tonight. They threw a bunch of good arms at us, and we just couldn’t get into our rhythm. We couldn’t get the big hits when we needed them. And credit to them, they made plays when they needed to.”
— Ragin’ Cajuns —
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Jeff Schneider
Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns Cox Communications Athletics Center Office: (337) 482-6332
@ULRaginCajuns
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