Baseball’™s Late-Inning Comeback Falls Short in 5-3 Defeat to Coastal Carolina

Ragin’ Cajuns leave two on base in the bottom of the ninth

 

 

 

LAFAYETTE – With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the ninth inning, Louisiana left two runners on base before ultimately falling to Coastal Carolina, 5-3, on Saturday afternoon at M.L. ‘Tigue’ Moore Field at Russo Park.

 

 

Louisiana (12-11, 1-1 Sun Belt) outhit Coastal Carolina (14-7, 1-1 Sun Belt) on the day, owning two more base knocks than the Chanticleers.

 

 

Four of the Ragin’ Cajuns’ nine hits came from Tyler Robertson. Robertson is the second Ragin’ Cajun to post four base hits in a single contest, joining Drake Osborn when he did so at Tulane.

 

 

Coastal broke open the scoring in Saturday’s game, plating a run in the second inning off Carter Robinson after stringing together three-straight hits. Robinson exited the game after tossing four innings and surrendering the one earned run.

 

 

The Ragin’ Cajuns made the game 1-1 in the third inning thanks to a Robertson RBI double that drove in Ben Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald finished his day 2-for-5 with a double, increasing his league-leading total to nine.

 

 

Even with the wind blowing straight in from center field, Coastal Carolina was able to tag Chipper Menard (0-1) for two home runs in the fifth and sixth inning, making the game 4-1 in favor of the Chants.

 

 

The Ragin’ Cajuns added a run in the sixth, but it was quickly matched by the Chanticleers, keeping their lead at three runs.

 

 

Louisiana had a few opportunities to try and take back the Coastal lead in the late innings, but grounded into a double play with two men on in the eighth inning and punched out with runners on second and third down two runs in the ninth inning.

 

 

Coastal’s pitching efforts was solid all day with its starter, Nick Parker (2-1) pitching 5.2 innings of one-run baseball and Luke Barrow coming in to earn his first save of the season.

 

 

Sunday’s game against Coastal has been pushed back to a 3 p.m. due to expected weather in the area.