Baseball: Lahare’s elbow – ‘That thing’s gonna be very, very sore’ + photo gallery of Troy game

Tim Buckley, The Advertsier, March 24, 2018

Athletic Network Footnote by Dr. Ed Dugas.
Click here for the game photo gallery.

If it’s not one thing, it’s another. And another.

First would-be Friday-night starter Gunner Leger decided to take a medical redshirt following offseason arm and leg surgeries. Then starting catcher Handsome Monica went down with a knee injury in UL’s season-opener at Texas, and he hasn’t been back since.

Now starting outfielder Daniel Lahare is hurting too, the victim of a gruesome-looking elbow injury sustained in the seventh inning of the Ragin’ Cajuns’ 6-2 Sun Belt Conference series loss Friday night to Troy on M.L. “Tigue” Moore at Russo Park.

Cajuns coach Tony Robichaux said Lahare evidently hyperextended the elbow, but that both the extent of the injury and his timetable for a return were uncertain immediately afterward.

“We think it’s maybe just been hyperextended,” UL coach Tony Robichaux said. “We hope that’s the case.”

Lahare slid feet first trying to catch a Rigsby Mosley double to right field, and caught his glove on the turf at The Tigue, bending the joint backward.

He immediately trotted off holding his arm and elbow.

“Most people that dive like that end up with a broken wrist,” Robichaux said. “So, we hope – we don’t know; we didn’t x-ray it – that it’s a hyperextension, and not a break.

“That thing’s gonna be very, very sore. … So I’m sure he’s probably out for the weekend; maybe a runner, we’ll see. But then he’s gonna have to work himself through that soreness, and work himself back.”

The Cajuns just hope it’s not a lengthy injury, especially with Leger lost and Monica having been out long-term.

Lahare, a Delgado Community College transfer from Metairie, is UL’s leadoff hitter and was the Cajuns’ second-leading batter at .254 going into the night.

“You’ve got to be tougher than the situation you’re in,” Robichaux said after his Cajuns fell to 9-13. “You know, if Lahare is out now for a little while – that’s another guy down. But you’ve got to work through it.

“With Gunner (Leger) and Handsome (Monica), our two best leaders – they’re in the dugout. And then now you’ve your energy guy (who) is gonna be in the dugout. So, some other people have to step up.”

Senior Zach LaFleur replaced Lahare in right after the injury.

More: Cajuns ace Leger explains decision to sit out the season

WHAT HAPPENED

Senior righty Andrew Crane went the distance for Troy, striking out five and allowing just five runs, while Trojans shortstop and leadoff hitter Matt Sanders went 4-for-4 at the plate with a walk and three runs scored.

Tyler Stover (2-for-3, one RBI) drove in Hayden Cantrelle from second with a single to left, and UL took a 1-0 lead in the second inning.

After Nick Lee walked the leadoff batter for a third straight inning, Troy took a 2-1 lead in the top of the third.

Kennon Fontenot tied it at 2-2 with a one-out solo homer to right in the bottom of the fourth.

But after Joey Denison doubled in a run to put the Trojans up 3-2 with one out in the top of the fifth, Lee exited – he had a six-walks outing – and Brock Batty entered for the Cajuns.

Troy picked up another charged to Lee, who threw 79 pitches over his 4.1 innings, and led UL 4-2 going to the bottom of the fifth.

The Cajuns allowed Troy’s leadoff hitter to reach in each of the first six straight innings.

“Nick (Lee) fought him himself and walked some guys, and just didn’t have real command,” Robichaux said. “Once he got, really, out in the stretch with runners on, he actually got better and pitched real good in traffic.

“But it let them build a little bit of lead here, a little bit of a chance here, and it has a wearing-down effect.”

The Trojans tacked on one more in the eighth with Denison’s bases-loaded sacrifice fly, and after a loaded the bases again Caleb Armstrong replaced Batty.

Armstrong walked the only man he faced, Drew Frederic, making it 6-2, and Grant Cox came on for UL, which went down in order in the eighth and the ninth.

UP NEXT

UL and Troy play at 2 p.m. Saturday in the middle outing of their three-game Sun Belt series.

UL (9-12, 1-3 Sun Belt) vs. TROY (15-7, 2-2)

WHAT: Middle outing of three-game Sun Belt Conference weekend series

WHEN: 2 p.m. Saturday

WHERE: M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field at Russo Park

TV: None

STREAMING: RaginCajuns.com/Watch with Cody Junot

RADIO: KPEL 96.5 FM with Jay Walker and Brad Topham

PITCHING MATCHUP: UL RHP Jack Burk (2-3, 3.64 ERA) vs. Troy RHP Daren Osby (2-0, 3.30)