JONESBORO, Ark. (5/3/14) – The Arkansas State baseball pitching staff struck out a season-high 17 but the offense produced just two hits as the Red Wolves fell to the No. 2 ranked Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns 7-0 in front of a crowd of 1,009, the second-largest crowd in Tomlinson Stadium history.
With the loss, A-State fell to 26-21 and 14-9 in Sun Belt Conference play, while Louisiana-Lafayette improved to 43-6 and 20-3 in the league. The Red Wolves also in a tie for second place in the SBC standings with Texas State.
Senior right-hander Bradley Wallace tied a career-high with 12 strike outs and gave up five runs on eight hits but for the second straight night the A-State defense had miscues that led to an early Ragin' Cajun lead.
Wallace got an unlucky break in the second inning when he struck out Blake Trahan but the ball bounced in the dirt and Stuart Levy's throw sailed wide of first base which allowed Tyler Girouard to score.
Chase Compton followed with an RBI single and Trahan scored on a wild pitch to give the Ragin' Cajuns an early 3-0 lead.
That would be all the offense that ULL starting pitcher Carson Baranik would need. The junior right-hander limited A-State to just two hits and struck out seven on the night. Zach Maggio had in the first inning but Austin Baker grounded into a double play to end the threat and Matt Burgess led off the fifth with a single but was thrown on a fielder's choice.
ULL added a run in the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly by Michael Strentz and then scored two off Cody Woodhouse in the top of the ninth to set the final.
Wallace and Woodhouse combined to strikeout a team season-high 17 on the night. Wallace had success against the Ragin' Cajuns and retired the side in order in the first inning and Woodhouse struck out the side in order when he entered the game in the eighth inning.
Louisiana-Lafayette had just one extra-base hit on the night, a hustle double by Girouard in the third inning.
The series finale will be Sunday afternoon at 1 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).
