Veillon homers, Ragin’ Cajuns claim inaugural meeting against Thundering Herd

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Jake Hammond scattered four hits and struck out five in seven solid innings of work and the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns racked up 13 hits off four pitchers to claim an 8-4 Sun Belt Conference win over Marshall on Thursday at GoMart Ballpark.

Will Veillon belted a solo home run and drove in three runs while five players had two hits each as Louisiana (21-9, 7-3 Sun Belt) led 3-1 after seven innings before using a five-run eighth to pull away from Marshall (13-14, 4-6 Sun Belt) in the first meeting between the schools.

Max Marusak and Ben Robichaux each drove in a pair of runs in the eighth for the Ragin’ Cajuns, who added seven infield hits in the game.

Louisiana took a 2-0 lead in the first inning with John Taylor reaching on a bases-loaded single off Marshall starter Patrick Copen (2-3) before Veillon was hit by a pitch.

Veillon sent a 1-and-2 fastball from Copen over the left-field wall in the fourth inning for a 3-0 lead before Marshall closed the gap in the sixth on Kyle Schaefer’s sacrifice fly which scored Kebler Peralta.

Hammond (3-2), who posted his third quality start of the season, retired the first 11 batters he faced before Owen Ayers’ double in the fourth. The right-hander allowed a bunt single by Peralta in the sixth and back-to-back singles in the seventh before closing out the night when he got Christian Lucio to line into an inning-ending, double play.

Veillon opened the scoring in the eighth for the Ragin’ Cajuns with an RBI single before Marusak laced a two-run single through the left side with Robichaux reached on an eventual triple which got past a diving Luke Edwards in center.

Carson Roccaforte and CJ Willis each added a double for Louisiana with Heath Hood collecting a pair of hits and a pair of stolen bases.

Copen allowed three runs and allowed five hits in 5.0 innings for Marshall, which dropped a 15-9 decision to No. 24-ranked West Virginia on Wednesday. Ayers and Peralta had two hits apiece to lead the Thundering Herd.

The three-game series resumes on Friday when the teams face off in a 5 p.m. CDT contest. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ and can be heard in the Lafayette area on KPEL-FM (96.5) and worldwide on the Varsity Network app.

Single-game tickets are available by visiting the Louisiana Athletics Box Office at the Cajundome or purchasing by visiting Account Manager. For more information call the Louisiana Athletics Box Office at the Cajundome at (337) 265-2104.

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