LAKE CHARLES – Well, you know what they say? If there is a contest between the McNeese State baseball team and the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns, chances are that the game will extend beyond the prescribed nine innings.
That is exactly what happened on Tuesday evening as the Cowboys (16-9) battled the rival Cajuns (13-8) to 11 innings in front of a capacity crowd of 1,837 spectators that saw the Cajuns outlast the Pokes, 6-5.
The announced attendance was the sixth largest in Cowboy Diamond history.
It was the second time this season that the two squads battled in extra innings with the Pokes picking up a 5-4 win in 17 innings in Lafayette on February 24.
Austin Briggs (1-1) was charged with the loss after tossing the last inning and gave up the winning run. Briggs was declared the winner in the first meeting against UL-Lafayette.
Senior outfielder
Andrew Guillotte led all McNeese batters with three hits in the game along with a double and two runs scored. First baseman
Connor Crane, shortstop
Connor Lloyd and third baseman
Kris Molter each turned in two hits on the night.
After jumping out to a four run lead in the first three innings of the game, McNeese (16-9) surrendered a pair of runs to UL-Lafayette (13-8) in the fourth and fifth frames that abled the Cajuns to knot up the score at five runs apiece.
Crane and Lloyd knocked in runs during the first inning to help the Cowboys to a two run lead while Lloyd,
Joe Provenzano and
Lewis Guilbeau helped extend the McNeese score in the third inning with an RBI each.
Both team's entered a pitcher's duel during the last four innings of regulation as the Cajuns' Colton Lee retired eight batters in a row at one point while McNeese's
Collin Kober retired four consecutive batters and then another string of three batters.
Kober tossed four innings total on the evening and was able to prevent any runs from scoring on just two hits and only one walk. He fanned six in the process.
In the top of the 11
th inning, UL-Lafayette catcher Nick Thurman used a two-out hit by pitch to reach base and extend the frame for the visitors. On the next play, designated hitter Stefan Trosclair blasted a double into the outfield that allowed Thurman to power past third and slide into home and score the winning run for the Cajuns.
The Cowboys will be back in action this weekend when they return to Southland Conference action at Northwestern State. First pitch is slated for a 6:30 p.m. start on Friday, March 27 in Natchitoches.
Louisiana-Lafayette 6, McNeese 5 (Mar 24, 2015 at Lake Charles, La.)
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Louisiana-Lafayette. 010 220 000 01 - 6 11 4 (13-8)
McNeese............. 203 000 000 00 - 5 11 3 (16-9)
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Pitchers: Louisiana-Lafayette - Marks,Wyatt; Bacon,Will(4); Lee,Colton(7);
Charpentier,Chris(10); Moore,Dylan(11) and Thurman,Nick. McNeese - LaPeze, Cory;
Brast, Clay(3); Prejean, Cole(5); Kober, Collin(7); Briggs, Austin(11) and Toole, Cameron;
LaRosa, Garrett.
Win-Charpentier,Chris(1-2) Save-Moore,Dylan(3) Loss-Briggs, Austin(1-1) T-3:25 A-1837
HR UL - Butler,Dylan (2).
Weather: 71; Sunny; 8 SSW
