Baseball: Louisiana Blanks No. 12 Vanderbilt At Shriners College Classic

HOUSTON, Texas – The Louisiana baseball team got a pair of strong pitching performances on Saturday as the Ragin’ Cajuns shutout 12th-ranked Vanderbilt on day two of the Shriners College Classic at Minute Maid Park.
 
The shutout is the first of the season for the Cajuns who improve to 4-6 on the year while the Commodores fall to 9-3 overall.
 
Sophomore starter Jack Burk was phenomenal tossing seven scoreless innings while scattering five hits and two walks in the victory. Burk struck out five in the outing and allowed just one runner to reach third base while retiring nine of the last ten hitters he faced. Vandy starter Patrick Raby was chased from the game after giving up two runs on four hits in 3.2 innings to take the loss.
 
Senior Logan Stoelke picked up his fourth save of the season in the game after posting two scoreless innings to close things out. For the fifth straight appearance, Stoelke did not surrender a hit to the opposition as he had two walks and two strikeouts in the contest.
 
LEADING THE CAJUNS
 
Junior Hunter Kasuls reached base in all four plate appearances going 2-for-2 with a double and an RBI and was hit by a pitch twice. Gavin Bourgeois also had two hits in the game as the Ragin’ Cajuns outhit Vanderbilt 7-5.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
The Ragin’ Cajuns jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third when senior Kennon Fontenot hammered an 0-2 pitch from Raby over the fence in right center for two-out, two-run homer.
 
Louisiana added an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh loading the bases with no outs before Kasuls was hit by a pitch by reliever Zach King to bring home Kole McKinnon and make the score 3-0.
 
The Commodores had just one runner reach third base in the final two innings as Stoelke completed the shutout for the Cajuns.
 
UP NEXT
 
Louisiana closes out the Shriners College Classic tomorrow at 11 a.m. against No. 7 Kentucky. Fans can listen to the game on KPEL 96.5-FM with Dan McDonald and Jeff Schneider on the call. The game can also be seen live on AT&T Sportsnet Southwest and MLB.com.
 
Following the matchup with the Wildcats, the Cajuns head home for four straight contests at M.L. "Tigue" Field at Russo Park as they open the week with No. 16 LSU in a 6:30 p.m. contest on Wednesday.
 
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