JONESBORO, Ark. (5/2/14) – Arkansas State scored three runs in the seventh inning to pull within one run but Louisiana-Lafayette held on for a 6-5 victory in the series opener Friday night at Tomlinson Stadium.
The No. 2 ranked Ragin' Cajuns (42-6, 19-3 SBC) led 6-2 after six innings but A-State (26-20, 14-8 SBC) put together a rally in the home half of the seventh to get within a run. Ty Michelotti drove in a run with an RBI double and Joe Schrimpf followed with an RBI single for the second run of the inning.
Schrimpf advanced to third on a wild pitch and en error by Michael Strentz behind the plate. Dustin Jones doubled in the third run of the inning to get A-State with a run, but the senior shortstop was left stranded when Eric Wilcoxson struck out looking to end the threat.
Michelotti went 2-for-3 with an RBI, and Schrimpf had a hit and one RBI.
A-State appeared to have a chance to in the eighth inning when Zach Maggio drew a leadoff walk, but Austin Baker failed to get down a sacrifice bunt and popped up to the pitcher and Maggio was doubled off first base.
Tanner Ring delivered a 2-out pinch-hit single in the bottom of the ninth, but Derek Birginske struck out looking to end the game and put A-State in an 0-1 deficit in the three-game series.
David Owen (5-4) pitched well but was hurt by three defensive errors behind him. He gave up six runs, three of which were earned and struck out five in six innings of work.
The A-State bullpen was excellent in three innings of relief. Coulton Lee, Colton Kibler, Chandler Hawkins and Morgan Croft combined to give up just one hit and Croft struck out two in the ninth inning to give A-State a chance in the bottom of the ninth.
Matt Burgess' 2-run home run in the fourth inning cut the Ragin' Cajuns lead to 3-2. The sophomore first baseman crushed his fourth home over the 370-foot mark in right-centerfield to give the Red Wolves momentum after giving up three early runs. Burgess finished 2-for-3 with two RBIs.
ULL added a pair of runs in the fifth on an A-State fielding error. Tyler Girouard reached on fielder's choice but an error but Dustin Jones at the bag at second base allowed Seth Harrison to reach safely and then advance to third and Ryan Leonards scored easily because of the error. Harrison came around to score on a wild pitch and the Ragin Cajuns' tacked on another run on an RBI ground out in the sixth to make it a 6-2 game.
Game two of the series will be Saturday afternoon at 6 p.m. at Tomlinson Stadium. The game can be heard on 95.3FM The Ticket/970AM KNEA and on AStateRedWolves.com. Live video streaming will also be available with a subscription to the StateZone.
For in-game updates follow @AStateGameDay on Twitter and stay up to date with A-State baseball by following the team on Twitter (@AStateBaseball) and Facebook (Facebook.com/RedWolvesbaseball).
