Baseball: Davis delivers for Cajuns + Moore set record

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, May 29, 2015

 

HOUSTON – The way UL senior first baseman Greg Davis sees things, it was only a matter of time.

That time – his time – came Friday in Game 1 of the NCAA Houston Regional here.

Davis’ two-run single in the ninth was a critical part of UL’s five-run, final-inning rally in a 7-6 win over Rice that put the Ragin’ Cajuns in the winners bracket of the four-team, double-elimination Regional.

“The game knows when you’re struggling,” said Davis, who is hitting .257 even after going 2-for-4 with three RBIs Friday.

“The game will get runners back on for you. If you strike out with bases loaded and nobody out, the game will come back to see you and test you again. That’s just the game of baseball.

“If I was the hottest hitter on the team right there, I’d be batting with nobody on base,” the Texan added. “But the game knows how it’s been lately, and it just gave me another opportunity, and you’ve just got to keep grinding through that.”

Davis’ single over the mound and through the middle, which came with the bases loaded, scored Tyler Girouard and Stefan Trosclair and pulled UL to within one at 6-5.

Davis was replaced on the bases by speedy Jam Williams, who scored what stood up as the winning run on Blake Trahan’s sacrifice fly.

“One of our pillars with our offense is to get the big hit, and earlier in the year – sometimes people get too big in that situation,” said Davis, who is from Ovilla, Texas, and transferred to UL from North Central Texas College. “I was one of those guys earlier in the year.

“Coach Robe (Tony Robichaux) always tells me … ‘You can’t be too big. The moment will be big for yourself. You’ve got to let it go.’

“So I was just trying to hit at it … and let the game momentum spin on (Rice reliever Austin Orewiler) and not on me,” Davis added. “I got the pitch I needed, and I capitalized.”

MOORE SETS RECORD

Cajuns closer Dylan Moore retired the side in order in the bottom of the ninth against Rice in the Regional to record his 12th save of the season, breaking the UL school record of 11 he shared with Matt Hicks.

Hicks set the record in 2013.

Robichaux, for one, was not at all surprised to see Moore pitched like he did Friday.

“He makes things so easy,” the Cajuns coach said of the true freshman from Hughes Spring High in Hughes Springs, Texas.

“Moore’s learned,” Robichaux said. “He’s got that aggressive approach. But it’s a controlled aggressiveness. … A calm aggressiveness.”

Moore set the record as his father Clint Moore watched in person.

“I’m glad his dad was able to fly in and be here for this weekend – because he misses a lot of games, because he flies all over the place,” Robichaux said.

GOOD OMEN NUMBER TWO

Before coming to the Regional, Robichaux suggested it was a good omen that UL’s team hotel in Houston is located at 1200 Louisiana Street.

Another one might be that the one of the large signs on the outfield wall in right at Cougars Field says in large letters “Ragin’ Cajun.”

It’s the name of a Houston restaurant, and the Cajuns ate as a team at Ragin’ Cajun on Thursday.

UL fans, incidentally, had Rice fans far, far outnumbered in an announced crowd of 2,839 for Friday’s game at host Houston’s home stadium – which is located in Rice’s own backyard, just a few miles from the Rice campus.

PITCHING PLANS

Robichaux suggested after the win that either Evan Guillory or Gunner Leger would start Saturday night’s winners-bracket game, and he said that “more than likely” it would be Guillory. That would leave Leger available to throw on Sunday or perhaps Monday.

Before finalizing the decision, however, Robichaux was waiting on the outcome of Friday night’s game, which Houston won 6-4.