Baseball:UL cruises in game 1,000 at The Tigue

Brady Aymond • baymond@theadvertiser.com • March 27, 2010

Nothing like a little throwback baseball to celebrate the 1,000th game at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field.

Click here for Daily Advertiser Photo Gallery of game: http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=DG&Dato=20100326&Kategori=NEWS01&Lopenr=3260808&Ref=PH&Profile=1006&SectionCat=UL-cruises-in-game-1-000-at-The-Tigue

UL starter Zach Osborne pitched his second consecutive complete game and the Ragin’ Cajuns combined timely hitting with smart baseball to roll to a 9-3 win over the Florida Atlantic Owls in the opener of a three-game series Friday night.

The Cajuns entered the 1,000th game at "The Tigue" having lost six of their previous eight games. But the homefield magic helped end that slide as UL picked up its 720th win in 1,000 games at the facility, which opened its gates on March 4, 1978.

"We played a complete baseball game — pitching, defense, hitting," said UL second baseman Jordan Poirrier, who went 3-for-5 with two RBIs. "It was good to come out here and play as a team after losing the last few games and get back on track.

"That’s what we want, especially on Friday night at home."

The Cajuns (12-10, 3-4) certainly didn’t look like a team which had been struggling for the better part of two weeks. Osborne (3-1) scattered eight hits and struck out seven and the defense was solid behind him, turning three double plays and committing only two errors — neither of which led to any runs.

"I felt good," said Osborne, who finished with 132 pitches, 82 going for strikes. "I was just trying to pitch to contact earlier in the game. I was just trying to make myself go as far as I could go, just like last week.

"I had a couple of rough innings, but I was able to get through it and push all the way to the ninth inning."

At the plate, the Cajuns ripped FAU’s pitchers for 14 hits, seven of those hits coming with two outs.

"That’s what we failed to do the other night (at LSU) and it really cost us the game," UL coach Tony Robichaux said of the two-out hitting. "Being able to get a two-out hit is really a back-breaker, because you know you’re one pitch from getting out of the inning.

"Tonight I thought the hitters did a really good job of doing that and being able to build on their lead."

The Cajuns jumped on FAU starter Ryan Garton (2-1) from the start, getting two runs in the first, another in the second and one more in the third to go up 4-0 going into the fourth inning.

FAU finally broke through on Osborne with consecutive doubles by Nick Delguidice, Eddie Cassidy and Mike Albaladejo to cut UL’s deficit in half. But Osborne stopped the bleeding and the Cajun bats went back to work in the bottom of the fifth.

Keefer extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a two-run blast — his third homer of the season — to right field to put UL back up by a comfortable 6-2 margin.

Osborne got into trouble only once more in the contest, giving up a run in the sixth and having runners at first and second. But he struck out Mesa to end the inning and put the game into cruise control.

"You just have to be tough in those situations whenever you have runners in scoring position and you’re trying to get your team off the field," Osborne said. "Especially with the way they were swinging it today, you have to give credit to the hitters making it easy for me with all the runs they put up."

UL starter Zach Osborne pitched his second consecutive complete game and the Ragin’ Cajuns combined timely hitting with smart baseball to roll to a 9-3 win over the Florida Atlantic Owls in the opener of a three-game series Friday night.

The Cajuns entered the 1,000th game at "The Tigue" having lost six of their previous eight games. But the homefield magic helped end that slide as UL picked up its 720th win in 1,000 games at the facility, which opened its gates on March 4, 1978.

"We played a complete baseball game — pitching, defense, hitting," said UL second baseman Jordan Poirrier, who went 3-for-5 with two RBIs. "It was good to come out here and play as a team after losing the last few games and get back on track.

"That’s what we want, especially on Friday night at home."

The Cajuns (12-10, 3-4) certainly didn’t look like a team which had been struggling for the better part of two weeks. Osborne (3-1) scattered eight hits and struck out seven and the defense was solid behind him, turning three double plays and committing only two errors — neither of which led to any runs.

"I felt good," said Osborne, who finished with 132 pitches, 82 going for strikes. "I was just trying to pitch to contact earlier in the game. I was just trying to make myself go as far as I could go, just like last week.

"I had a couple of rough innings, but I was able to get through it and push all the way to the ninth inning."

At the plate, the Cajuns ripped FAU’s pitchers for 14 hits, seven of those hits coming with two outs.

"That’s what we failed to do the other night (at LSU) and it really cost us the game," UL coach Tony Robichaux said of the two-out hitting. "Being able to get a two-out hit is really a back-breaker, because you know you’re one pitch from getting out of the inning.

"Tonight I thought the hitters did a really good job of doing that and being able to build on their lead."

The Cajuns jumped on FAU starter Ryan Garton (2-1) from the start, getting two runs in the first, another in the second and one more in the third to go up 4-0 going into the fourth inning.

FAU finally broke through on Osborne with consecutive doubles by Nick Delguidice, Eddie Cassidy and Mike Albaladejo to cut UL’s deficit in half. But Osborne stopped the bleeding and the Cajun bats went back to work in the bottom of the fifth.

Keefer extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a two-run blast — his third homer of the season — to right field to put UL back up by a comfortable 6-2 margin.

Osborne got into trouble only once more in the contest, giving up a run in the sixth and having runners at first and second. But he struck out Mesa to end the inning and put the game into cruise control.

"You just have to be tough in those situations whenever you have runners in scoring position and you’re trying to get your team off the field," Osborne said. "Especially with the way they were swinging it today, you have to give credit to the hitters making it easy for me with all the runs they put up."