Baseball: Leger And Moore Combine To Shutout No. 18 Sam Houston State, 2-0

HUNTSVILLE, Texas – Juniors Gunner Leger and Dylan Moore combined to toss a two-hit shutout as the 13th-ranked Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns baseball team took down 18th-ranked Sam Houston State 2-0 on Friday night at Don Sanders Stadium.
 
The shutout is the second of the season for the Cajuns (2-2), and marks the second time in the last four years that Louisiana has posted two shutouts in the first four contests.
 
"Tonight we got some timely hitting, and that’s what we’ve been looking for," head coach Tony Robichaux said. "We don’t have a lot to show for it, but we didn’t need a whole lot to win tonight. We were good in all three phases of the game, with hitting, pitching and defense. We’ve got to come back tomorrow ready to take the series."
 
Leger was outstanding in his second start of the year posting six scoreless innings to improve to 1-1 on the year. The left-hander limited SHSU to two hits with a walk and six strikeouts in the outing. Leger retired nine straight hitters from the second through the fourth inning and allowed only three Bearkats to reach base.
 
"Gunner was really good tonight." Robichaux said. "He’s always been on as a starter, and tonight he came out and gave us what we expect from him. We know with Gunner on the mound we always have a chance to win."
 
Moore notched his second save of the season and 29th of his career in the contest after throwing three scoreless innings with three strikeouts. The junior is now just two saves back from equaling the Sun Belt Conference career saves record set by Hugh Adams of FAU from 2009-13.
 
Sam Houston State (2-3) starter Heath Donica was handed his first loss of the season despite giving up just one run on four hits in seven innings of work. Donica walked three and struck out 11 on the night.
 
Offensively, Louisiana outhit the Bearkats 7-2 led by senior first baseman Alex Pinero who went 2-for-4 and scored both runs in the game.
 
The Ragin’ Cajuns jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the second when second baseman Brenn Conrad was hit by a Donica pitch with the bases loaded and two outs. Louisiana loaded the bases on three singles by Pinero, left fielder Kennon Fontenot and centerfielder Jam Williams.
 
Sam Houston State threatened in the bottom of the seventh putting a runner on second with one out, but Moore got out of the jam with the aid of two spectacular grabs in left field by Fontenot.
 
Louisiana added an insurance run in the top of the ninth on a two-out, pinch hit RBI single to right field by freshman Todd Lott scoring Pinero from second base to make the score 2-0.
 
In the bottom half of the ninth, SHSU got a runner in scoring position for the fifth time in the game, but Moore clamped down and retired the next three batters he faced to end the contest.
 
The Cajuns and Bearkats return to action tomorrow at 3 p.m. Sophomore right-hander Nick Lee (1-0, 0.00 ERA) will make the start for Louisiana, while Sam Houston State will counter with left-hander Seth Ballew (0-0, 3.60 ERA). Fans can listen to the contest live on NewsTalk 96.5-FM.
 
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