Baseball: Moody Pitches Cajuns Past #15 Texas A&M

Chris Whitehead, Sports Information –

Hunter Moody pitched a complete game three-hitter to lead the Cajuns to a 7-1 victory.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas-Sophomore pitcher Hunter Moody threw a complete game three-
hitter to lead Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns (7-4) to a 7-1 victory over No. 15
Texas A&M (13-5) on Saturday afternoon at Nelson Wolff Memorial Stadium.

Moody threw his first complete game of his young career. The left-hander
allowed just one unearned run on three hits to lead the Ragin’ Cajuns to a
victory in the Baseball Express Collegiate Baseball Classic.

Moody relied on excellent defense for outs. The southpaw threw 133 pitches
with 84 strikes, but only had two strikeouts for the game. Moody got the
Aggies to fly out nine times and induced 14 ground outs.

The Ragin’ Cajuns batters picked up where they left off against Illinois. UL
scored three runs on four hits in the first inning to jump out to an early 3-
0 lead over Texas A&M.

John McCarthy led off the game with a single to right field. The senior
advanced to second thanks to a balk by the Aggies starting pitcher. Jameson
Parker laid down a bunt towards third base to advance McCarthy. Parker was
able to beat out the throw to give the Cajuns runners on the corners with no
outs. Josh Landry continued the inning with an RBI single through the right
side. Parker came around to score as a result of a pair of wild pitches.
With Landry on third, Jonathan Lucroy laced a ball through the left side to
plate the runner.

Following Lucroy’s single, the Aggies switched pitchers. A&M brought in Matt
Ueckert to pitch and he was effective. Ueckert induced a double play and a
fly ball to close out the first inning.

The Cajuns continued to struggle against Ueckert. UL managed only two hits
over the next four innings off of the south paw. Devon Bourque collected
both of the hits for the Cajuns. The junior dropped a single in between the
left fielder and third baseman in the second inning and snuck a ball past a
diving Aggie shortstop in the fifth inning.

Texas A&M was able to put a run on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth
inning. Blake Stouffer reached base on a throwing error by Parker. He stole
second and advanced to third on an errant throw by Lucroy. A single up the
middle plated Stouffer and gave the Aggies their first run of the game.

In the top of the sixth inning, Lucroy hit his team leading fourth homerun of
the season to give the Cajuns a 4-1 lead.

Matt Hicks walked to start the ninth inning. Preciado laid down a bunt to
try to advance Hicks to second, but reached on a fielder’s choice as A&M
opted to get Hicks out at second base. A single by McCarthy advanced
Preciado to third. McCarthy advanced to second due to catcher’s indifference.
With a full count, Parker saw ball four head towards the backstop. Preciado
scored on the wild pitch while McCarthy advanced to third. After Parker
advanced to second on a catcher’s indifference, Landry singled to left center
to plate Parker and McCarthy to make the score 7-1.

The Ragin’ Cajuns will continue play in the Collegiate Baseball Classic on
Sunday morning. UL will face Iowa for the second time this season at 11 a.m.
on Sunday, March 12. The Cajuns faced the Hawkeyes in the Louisiana-
Lafayette Invitational. The Ragin’ Cajuns escaped the game with a 14-9
victory despite multiple errors and struggles in relief pitching.