Box Score
LAFAYETTE, La. – The New Orleans Privateers baseball team (10-20, 2-10 Southland) got 12 hits at the plate and some big plays in the field in an 8-7 win over the No. 1 Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns (30-4, 11-1 Sun Belt) on Tuesday at Tigue Moore Field.
Darron McKigney came in to close out the game after
Daniel Martinez gave up a lead-off single and a subsequent double. McKigney got a strikeout on the first batter he faced. After an RBI ground out cut the deficit to one, McKigney induced a grounder to short from Michael Strentz to seal the victory. McKigney picked up his first save of the season.
"We did the little things and those are things we talked about all year. Tonight we executed we played well in the field, but it all comes down to pitching. Ray gave us a great start, Seth came in and did a phenomenal job. Daniel gave us a good couple of at-bats there. What can you say about Darron? I think we've got something. He's a converted shortstop, hasn't pitched much and you look at his outing in San Antonio then today is going to give him a lot of confidence," said Head Coach Ron Maestri.
With the score at 8-6 in the bottom of the eighth, the Cajuns loaded the bases with one out. Martinez got a big strikeout against Seth Harrison for the second out. Then Martinez induced a ground out from Kyle Clement to finish off the frame and get the Privateers out of a jam.
The bats came through late in the contest with a huge three-run seventh off of Nick Zaunbrecher to give the Privateers the lead for good. With two on and one out,
Reese Kanter hit a single to right that scored the go-ahead run. A deep fly ball to right-center from
Jonathan Coco found its way to the wall for a triple that punched two more runs across to give New Orleans an 8-5 lead.
Louisiana-Lafayette got one run back in the bottom half of the frame. After
Seth Laigast retired the first two batters of the inning, he hit Tyler Girouard on the ankle with a 3-0 pitch. A subsequent walk drawn by Caleb Adams set up Jace Conrad's RBI single through the right side of the infield. Conrad extended his hitting streak to 18 and cut the Privateers lead to 8-6.
"I'm just proud of the kids. We've battled all year. They've just been a little short. They made up their mind we're playing arguably the number one team in the country. They really did a job. We swung the bat, we got hits when we needed it and we come out on top," said Maestri.
The Cajuns struck first for a home run to start the second inning. After starter
Raymond Winter got ahead 0-2, Adams drove the next pitch over the wall for a 1-0 lead. That lead was short lived as the Privateers responded in emphatic fashion for five runs in the fourth.
New Orleans got the first two runners on against reliever Ben Carter. On the next batter,
Hezekiah Randolph hit an infield RBI single to tie the game. The knot was broken two batters later on a two-run double from
Jonathan Santana. Back-to-back RBI ground outs pushed the Privateers edge to 5-1.
The Cajuns responded in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game. An RBI triple by Dylan Butler accounted for the first of a four-run frame. Then Blake Trahan carried one out on a three-run home run to square the game at 5-5. Louisiana-Lafayette wound up with five extra base hits on the night.
Kanter led the Privateers with a 4-for-5 night at the plate. Santana and
Zach Liberto each had two hits. Laigast picked up the win to move to 2-2 on the year. The Privateers scored all of their runs in two innings.
"Reese used all the field tonight. That last at-bat was awesome when he went to left. He can do that, and we can be a spoiler in this league. The guys have been close all year, but we couldn't get over the hump. Tonight we did against a very good team," said Maestri.
The Cajuns were led by Adams who went 4-for-4 and was a triple shy of the cycle. Louisiana-Lafayette narrowly out-hit New Orleans on the night 13-12. Conrad had two hits in his last two at-bats after going hitless in his first three trips to the plate.
New Orleans will next travel to Beaumont to take on Lamar. First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
