Baseball: Too little, too late for Cajuns

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, June 8, 2015

 

UL pitcher Gunner Leger (28) reacts on the mound just before being pulled after giving up a two-run single during the eighth inning against LSU on Sunday.(Photo: AP)

 

BATON ROUGE – For seven innings Sunday, pitching and defense mostly did its job for UL in Game 2 of the NCAA Baton Rouge Super Regional.

What ultimately did UL in after LSU took a 5-0 lead with a four-run eighth inning of a 6-3 Tigers win that ended the Ragin’ Cajuns’ season, however, was in inability by the Cajun offense to crack LSU starter Jared Poche for seven innings.

“Well, you know, we thought we’d have some chances, and we had some chances,” Cajuns coach Tony Robichaux said.

No UL hitter, however, had more than one hit.

The Cajuns stranded seven runners, including one each in the first, third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings, and two in the eighth.

And by the time UL did get one run off of Poche in the eighth and two runs off of LSU reliever Zac Person in the bottom of the ninth, it was too little, too late.

“We just couldn’t get a timely hit off of him,” Robichaux said.

“We felt that our whole motto in this situation is to keep the game where it is, and just do what we do. That’s all I kept telling (UL starting pitcher) Gunner (Leger) every time he went out is, ‘Just do what we do, just keep doing what we do,’ at that point in time.

“Hopefully,” Robichaux added, “the hitters can get a timely hit.”

They got some in a seven-hitter for both sides, including pinch-hitter Kennon Fontenot’s RBI-triple to right off Person in the ninth, but ultimately it wasn’t enough.

“Credit Poche for that,” Robichaux said. “When he had to make pitches, he made them.”

FINAL NUMBERS

Centerfielder Kyle Clement finished the 2015 season with a .346 batting average for the Cajuns, followed by Stefan Trosclair (.338), Tyler Girouard (.333) and Blake Trahan (.315).

No one else from UL hit above Nick Thurman’s .257, and the Cajuns hit .272 as a team – topping their opponents’ average of .243.

Trosclair had a team-high 16 homers, team-leading 53 RBI and team-high 55 runs scored. Girouard finished with a team-high 18 doubles, Clement had a team-high four triples and Trahan stole a team-high 17 bases.

MOORE HONORED

The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) on Monday named UL freshman closer Dylan Moore a first team Freshman All-American.

Moore recorded a single-season UL school-record 13 saves this season and finished with a team-best 1.60 ERA.

The Texan was one of 34 players named to the first team, and he was one of just three relievers selected. Eighteen freshmen were named to the second team.

Moore also was recently named a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American.

FOOTBALL GAME ON ESPN3

The Sun Belt Conference on Monday announced that UL’s Sept. 12 home football game against Northwestern State will be carried online by ESPN3, as is standard practice for all home games of Sun Belt teams that are not televised.

The league also announced that Georgia State’s Sept. 4 game against Charlotte will be televise by ESPNU.

It previously was announced that UL’s Oct. 20 game at Arkansas State will be televised by ESPN2 and the Cajuns’ Nov. 12 game at South Alabama will be televised by ESPNU.