Baseball: Baseball Erases Seven-Run Deficit, Sweeps ULM

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MONROE, La. – Down 9-2 to start the top of the sixth inning, Louisiana scored nine runs between the sixth and seventh innings to beat ULM, 11-9, and sweep the Warhawks on Saturday afternoon.

Louisiana’s 5-1 start in Sun Belt Conference play is its best since 2014 when it opened league play 6-0.

David Christie was incredible out of the bullpen, earning his first win of the season by retiring six Warhawks on strikes and not allowing an earned run in five innings pitched.

Brett Borgogno, Tyler Robertson and Bobby Lada all posted multi-hit games, with Borgogno leading the charge with a team-leading three base knocks.

Josh Cofield came up in a pinch-hit situation for the third time on Saturday, collecting his third pinch-hit base hit of the weekend.

Louisiana (17-11, 5-1 Sun Belt) scored first in Saturday’s contest after loading the bases and scoring a run on a sac fly. The sac fly, hit by Carson Roccaforte, was hit close to the Warhawks’ dugout down the first base-line, resulting in the catcher, pitcher and first baseman going after the ball and leaving home plate unoccupied. Alex Hannie took advantage of the fielder mishap by the Warhawks and scampered home, making the game 1-0.

ULM (10-14, 3-6 Sun Belt) got the run back it surrendered in the first inning by scoring a run on a weak-contact single to centerfield, putting the game at 1-1 after one.

After pitching a good second inning, Perrin gave up a leadoff triple, but was able to retire the next batter.

Jason Nelson was called upon to relieve Perrin and plunked the first batter he faced and then gave up a sac fly. ULM also scored two more runs in the third on a throwing error and a wild pitch, giving them a 4-1 lead after three innings.

Bobby Lada made the game 4-2 with his first home run as a Ragin’ Cajun in the top of the fourth inning.

Similar to the first inning, ULM matched the run the Ragin’ Cajuns put up in the top of the fourth with an RBI-double and then added an extra run, extending its lead to 6-2.

Following a three-run fifth by ULM, Louisiana platted six runs in the top of the sixth to make it a one-run ball game. Louisiana walked four times, used a fielding error, a pinch-hit RBI-single from Cofield and an RBI-ground out from Nick Hagedorn to pick up its six runs.

Following the six-run sixth, Louisiana added three more runs to its output. Started by a Lada double, Borgogno, CJ Willis and Connor Kimple all notched RBI hits to make the game 11-9.

By that time, it was too late for ULM to recover and Christie mowed down hitters to end the game, giving the Cajuns an 11-9 win.