LAFAYETTE – Tommy Ray and three relievers combined on Louisiana’s fourth, two-hitter in eight days and Max Marusak’s two-out single in the fourth broke up a scoreless tie as the Ragin’ Cajuns earned a 2-0 victory over in-state foe Southeastern Louisiana on Wednesday at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field at Russo Park.
Cooper Rawls (5-0) pitched 3.0 innings of hitless relief to earn the win for Louisiana (16-6) and move into a tie for the Division I national lead. Brendan Moody pitched the final 2.0 innings to earn his second save of the year.
Louisiana, which allowed two hits in games against Jackson State (March 14), Arkansas State (March 19) and Grambling (March 21), pitched its third shutout of the season while claiming its fourth straight win over SLU (12-9).
Ray pitched the opening 3.0 innings for Louisiana and fanned two batters while allowing an opposite-field double in the second inning. The right-hander allowed a pair of base runners with one out in the third inning before getting out of the jam as he got Tyler Finke to fly out to left and Jake Killingsworth to fly out to center.
Louisiana, which finished with 10 hits and stranded 11 runners on base, broke open in the fourth inning after SLU starter Jay Long (1-3) allowed singles to Peyton LeJeune and Julian Brock.
Long would retire the next two batters before Marusak lined an RBI single to right off reliever Reid Reynolds to score LeJeune for a 1-0 lead.
Rawls retired the first six batters he faced before Rhett Rosevear was hit by a pitch and Finke drew a walk to open the sixth inning. Rawls would get Killingsworth to hit into a double play before Shea Thomas flew out to left to end the threat.
The Ragin’ Cajuns added an insurance run in the bottom half of the sixth after John Taylor reached on a one-out single and moved to second on a walk to pinch-hitter Lee Amedee. Ben Robichaux would draw a two-out walk to load the bases before Carson Roccaforte was hit by a pitch from SLU reliever Levi Bennett.
Carson Fluno pitched a scoreless seventh inning for Louisiana, allowing a one-out single and fanning two batters before Moody retired all six SLU batters he faced with a pair of strikeouts.
LeJeune and Brock had two hits each to lead Louisiana at the plate while Heath Hood added fifth-inning double for his 21st game this season with a hit while extending his streak of reaching base to 39 games dating back to last season.
Long took the loss for SLU after scattering seven hits and striking out three in 3.2 innings. Four relievers combined to hold the Ragin’ Cajuns to three hits over the final 4.1 innings. Champ Artigues collected both hits for the Lions, who were blanked for the first time in 112 games dating back to the 2021 season.
Louisiana will head east for a three-game Sun Belt Conference series at South Alabama beginning on Friday at 6:30 p.m. The teams will play on Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1. All three games will be available 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 [am.ticketmaster.com]. For more information call the Louisiana Athletics Box Office at the Cajundome at (337) 265-2104.
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