LAFAYETTE –Julian Brock broke open a 7-7 tie with a two-run double in the sixth inning while CJ Willis had two hits with an RBI as the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns earned a wild 11-10 victory over BYU to complete a four-game sweep on Saturday at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field at Russo Park.
Will Veillon and Kyle DeBarge each drove in a pair of runs as Louisiana (6-1) earned its first four-game sweep since Feb. 10-11, 1996 when it claimed four wins against Prairie View. BYU, playing its final game of an eight-game road trip in the state of Louisiana, fell to 2-6 overall.
Brock finished 2-for-4 at the plate and drove in three runs as the teams got off to a wild start with the game tied at 7-7 after three innings. The junior catcher broke the deadlock in the sixth inning when he hit the first pitch off BYU reliever Jake Porter (0-2) down the right-field line for a one-out double, which plated Heath Hood and Carson Roccaforte for the eventual lead.
Veillon gave Louisiana a 10-7 lead in the seventh when he drilled a 2-and-0 pitch from Porter over the left-field fence for his first home run of the season. Brock would give the Ragin' Cajuns an insurance run in the eighth when his ground-rule double off Cougar reliever Boston Mabeus scored Hood.
BYU took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on Brock Watkins' two-run double off Louisiana starter Jackson Nezuh before the Ragin' Cajuns scored once in the first and three times in the second off BYU's Cutter Clawson.
DeBarge plated a pair of runners in the second when he drove in Max Marusak and Willis with a single through the left side. DeBarge stole third and scored to give Louisiana a 4-2 lead when Hood fouled out down the first-base line.
The Cougars answered with a five-run third as Watkins hit a two-run, ground-rule double before scoring one pitch later when Safea Mauai belted his first home run of the season to give BYU a 6-4 lead. Jacob Wilk added a one-out, RBI double down the left-field line off Louisiana reliever David Christie before the Cajuns got out of the inning with a flyball to right and grounder to first.
Louisiana scored a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning as Caleb Stelly and Veillon each hit RBI grounders before Marusak singled, stole second and scored on Willis' opposite-field single to tie the game at 7-7.
Mauai, who was 2-for-4 with three RBI, led off the seventh for BYU with a solo blast to right to cut Louisiana's lead to 9-8 before Tate Gambill added a two-run homer in the ninth to close the Cougars' deficit to 11-10.
Carson Fluno earned his first save in a Louisiana uniform after pitching the final 0.2 innings, getting Cooper Vest looking at a called third strike before getting Bryant Ball to hit a hard liner to third.
Cooper Rawls (2-0) earned the win for Louisiana, tossing 1.2 innings in relief and striking out one. Porter dropped his second decision for the Cougars in the four-game series after taking the loss in Wednesday's 4-3 decision.
Watkins went 2-for-3 with four RBI for the Cougars, which wraps up its overall nine-game roadtrip to open the season at Utah Valley.
Louisiana will head west for its first midweek game of the season on Tuesday when it travels to Lake Charles to face McNeese in a 6 p.m. contest at Joe Miller Ballpark. The Ragin' Cajuns will then return home for a three-game series (March 3-5) against 2022 NCAA Regional participant Campbell at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field at Russo Park.
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