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Baseball: Plitt Changes the Course as Cajuns Advance to Championship Round in Baton Rouge
BATON ROUGE – A masterful relief pitching performance by Matt Plitt and two home runs from Caleb Adams helped boost the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns baseball team to a 7-5 victory over Sam Houston State in an elimination game in the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional on Sunday afternoon at the Skip Bertman Field in Alex Box Stadium.
The win advances the Cajuns (43-19) to the regional championship round for the first time since 2007 when they came through the winner’s bracket at the College Station Regional.
Louisiana will face regional-host LSU (54-9) at 7:05 p.m. tonight at Alex Box in the Baton Rouge Regional championship round. If the Cajuns win they will force a second game on Monday evening at 7:05 p.m. A LSU win and the season comes to a close for UL.
Adams homered in the third and ninth inning, finishing the day 2-for-4 with four RBI. His first homer of the contest pulled the Cajuns into a 3-3 tie, while the latter provided insurance runs by increasing the squad’s lead to 7-3 in the final frame.
Plitt picked up his fourth win of the season, improving to 4-1, registering his longest stint out of the bullpen to pick up the win. Plitt entered in relief of Cody Boutte in the second inning after SHSU (38-22) had grabbed a 3-0 lead and proceeded to retire the first 15 batters he faced to help the Cajuns take control.
The 7.0 innings pitched marked the longest relief outing by Plitt this season. His previous high for innings pitched in a relief effort was 2 2/3 innings against Central Michigan on Feb. 16 in the season-opening weekend.
Plitt held the Bearkats to just two runs – both in his final inning of relief – off four hits. He surrendered just one walk and struck out three.
Louisiana picked up a come-from-behind victory for the second straight day in the Baton Rouge Regional (Cajuns trailed 1-0 to Jackson State after four innings). It was the Cajuns sixth come-from-behind victory since May 12.
Cody Boutte got the start on the mound for the Cajuns and ran into trouble in the second inning. He allowed three runs on five hits in the first 1.2 innings, yielding to Plitt out of the bullpen after a Ryan Farney home run gave SHSU a 3-0 edge.
Boutte did get help from yet another unconventional double play with none out in the second to limit the damage. Sam Houston had runners on first and third when a sharp ground ball was hit to Jace Conrad at first. Conrad threw to Michael Strentz behind the plate who chased the runner back to third, tagging him and then the runner from first attempting to advance to third.
Adams got Boutte off the hook for the decision the very next inning. After Dex Kjerstad came around to score on two errors and a wild pitch, Adams sent the first pitch he saw, for his first hit of the regional, over the left field fence to score Tyler Girouard and tie the game at 3-all.
The Cajuns added two more runs in the fourth, taking a 5-3 lead, after capitalizing on another Sam Houston error and wild pitches. Strentz led the inning off by reaching on a throwing error by the Bearkats’ shortstop and eventually scored on a fielder’s choice by Conrad. Conrad then stole second and came around to score on a single from Chase Compton.
The score remained the same through the end of the eighth inning as Plitt continued his streak of consecutive batters retired and SHSU starting pitcher Andew Godail and reliever Logan Boyd combined to match Plitt’s scoreless frames.
Adams came up in the top of the ninth and added to the Cajuns’ lead with his second home run of the day upping the lead to 7-3. Like his first home run he jumped on the first pitch he saw and sent it to dead center field and off the top of the wall for his 16th of the season.
Plitt left the game with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Two runs in the ninth wound up being charged to him as SHSU scored off a solo home run then a defensive miscue after he departed.
Matt Hicks came out of the bullpen for the Cajuns to pick up the save. He allowed a hit and hit a batter before Blake Trahan retired the final batter with a snow-cone diving catch in shallow left field. It was Hicks’ 11th save of the season, adding to his school single-season record.
BASES NOTED: Louisiana advanced to the championship game of an NCAA Regional out of the loser’s bracket for the first time since the 1991 appearance in Baton Rouge…Caleb Adams’ two-run home run that tied the score at 3-3 in the third inning was Louisiana’s first home run of the Baton Rouge Regional…Adams’ home run in the ninth inning gave the Texarkana, Texas, native his fourth multi-home run game of the season…Caleb Adams’ four RBI marked his team-leading 15 multiple-RBI contest of 2013 and was the eighth time he’s finished a game with at least three RBI…The two home runs by Caleb Adams increased the Ragin’ Cajuns team season total to 74 which is tops in the NCAA Division I ranks…The 74 home runs by the Cajuns mark the most home runs for Louisiana since posting 76 in 2007…This season’s home run tally of 74 marks the fourth-most home runs in a single season (83 in 2000; 78 in 2004; 76 in 2007; 74 in 2013; 73 in 1991)…Today’s pitching performance (7.0 innings in relief) was Matt Plitt’s second-longest outing of the 2013 season falling just shy of the 8.0 innings pitched in a start against Southeastern Louisiana on April 24 at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field…Sophomore Jace Conrad successfully executed two stolen bases increasing his team-leading total to 18 in 21 attempts…Conrad’s 18 stolen bases are a personal single-season best and the stolen base tally pushed the Lafayette native over 20 stolen bases in his brief career…Dex Kjerstad had his 15-game hitting streak snapped as he concluded the contest 0-for-4…Kjerstad went hitless after entering the day just two hits shy of tying and three of breaking the single-season hits record of 101 set by Nathan Nelson in 2000…Louisiana turned two double plays increasing its season total to 66 which ties the mark established by the 2009 squad…Michael Strentz recorded both putouts on a fielder’s choice double play that began with a ground ball to first base with runners on the corners in the second inning…Chase Compton caught a line drive in the eighth inning to double off a SHSU runner at first base for the second twin killing.
LINE SCORE
Louisiana 7, Sam Houston State 5 (Jun 02, 2013 at Baton Rouge, La.)
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Louisiana……….. 003 200 002 – 7 5 0 (43-19)
Sam Houston State… 030 000 002 – 5 9 3 (38-22)
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Pitchers: Louisiana – Boutte, Cody; Plitt, Matt (2); Hicks, Matt (9). Sam Houston State – Godail, Andrew; Boyd, Logan (8)
Win-Plitt, Matt (4-1) Save-Hicks, Matt (11) Loss-Godail, Andrew (5-4) T-2:49 A-2066
HR UL – Adams, Caleb 2 (16)
HR SHSU – Azar, Anthony (6); Farney, Ryan (1)
Weather: 85, partly cldy, calm winds
— Ragin’ Cajuns —
Matt Hebert Cox Communications Athletics Center Office: (337) 482-6330
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