Robertson, Brock power Cajuns past Lions, 6-4, in in-state midweek tilt

HAMMOND – Tyler Robertson belted a game-tying three-run home run in the third inning to erase an early deficit and Julian Brock belted a go-ahead two-run home run in the seventh to lead the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns Baseball team to a 6-4 win over Southeasterrn Louisiana on Tuesday at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field.

Peyton Havard and five relievers combined on an eight-hitter as Louisiana (12-12) won its second straight game while sweeping the season series against SLU (8-17), which lost of the eighth straight time after a 5-1 win over then No. 1-ranked Ole Miss on March 15.

Drew Shifflet (2-1) earned the victory for Louisiana after pitching 0.2 innings. Tommy Ray and David Christie each pitched a hitless inning for the Ragin’ Cajuns while Chipper Menard pitched the ninth to earn his second save of the year.

Louisiana trailed 3-0 in the first inning after the Lions used three hits with two outs to take the lead. Tyler Finke looped a two-out single into left field, stole second and scored on Preston Faulkner’s RBI single to center. After a walk to put runners on first and second, Champ Artigues doubled to right field to drive in Faulkner and Shea Thomas to give SLU a 3-0 lead.

Robertson would tie it up at 3-3 in the third inning after belting a 0-and-2 pitch off SLU’s Alex Potter over the center-field fence. Bobby Lada led off the inning with a walk and moved to second when Warnner Rincones’ grounder to short was bobbled by Evan Keller for an error.

Hayden Durke, who pitched 4.0 innings in relief of Havard, fanned three batters and kept SLU off the board until Faulkner’s solo home run in the sixth inning.

Louisiana would respond one inning later after Conor Higgs led off the inning with a walk off Brock Batty (0-1). Brock capped off a seven-pitch at-bat by hitting a mammoth home run to left field – the first of his career – and giving Louisiana the lead for good at 5-4.

Heath Hood added an insurance run for Louisiana after doubling off the right-field wall, moving to third on a wild pitch and scoring on a wild pitch. Menard, who his first save of the year in last Sunday’s 6-3 win over South Alabama, earned his second save in as many games as he fanned two batters.

Hood went 2-for-4 at the plate to lead Louisiana. Carson Roccaforte added a double for the Ragin’ Cajuns with Kyle DeBarge adding a single.

Louisiana will return to action on Wednesday when it travels to face in-state foe New Orleans in a 6:30 p.m. game at Maestri Field. Southeastern embarks on another four-game road trip. This weekend SLU will travel to San Antonio, Texas for a three-game Southland Conference series at UIW.

LINE SCORE
UL Lafayette 6, Southeastern 4 (Mar 29, 2022 at Hammond, La.)
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UL Lafayette…….. 003 000 201 – 6 7 0 (12-12)
Southeastern…….. 300 001 000 – 4 8 1 (8-17)
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Pitchers: UL Lafayette – Havard, Peyton; Durke, Hayden (2); Shifflet, Drew (6); Ray, Tommy (7); Christie, David (8); Menard, Chipper (9) and Brock, Julian. Southeastern – Guth, Adam; Bartley, Kyle (2); Potter, Alex (3); Aspholm, Dalton (4); Reynolds, Reid (5); Batty, Brock (7); Yuratich, Andrew (7); Robb, Hayden (8); Smith, Noah (9) and Grizzaffi, Bryce.

Win-Shifflet, Drew (2-1) Save-Menard, Chipper (2) Loss-Batty, Brock (0-1) T-2:40 A-1478
HR LA – Robertson, Tyler (2); Brock, Julian (1).
HR SLU – Faulkner, Preston (6).
Weather: 80 Mostly Cloudy, SE 18 mph
Batty, B. faced 2 batters in the 7th.