Missed Opportunities Cost Trojans

Saturday, April 10

Lafayette, La.

6:00 pm

Troy University

UL Lafayette

4/11/2010 2:00:00 AM | Baseball

LAFAYETTE, La. – It would be easy to look at the seven-run fourth inning posted by the homestanding Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns Saturday night as the primary reason ULL defeated Troy 9-5 in the second game of their Sun Belt Conference series.

What is harder to see in the box score is the 10 runners the Trojans left on base in the game, including eight in scoring position. Of those eight stranded runners, six were left standing at third base.

The loss gives the Cajuns their fifth consecutive season series victory over Troy and leaves the Trojans scrambling on Sunday to avoid suffering a crippling Sun Belt sweep.

ULL improved to 17-14 overall with the win, 6-8 in league play, while Troy fell to 16-14 overall and falls behind the Cajuns in the conference race with a 4-7 mark. The final game of the series is set for 1 p.m. on Sunday at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field.

The Trojans were able to get on the board early in the game, and chased ULL starting pitcher T.J. Geith in the fourth inning, but Troy left two runners on base in each of the first three innings when the team had a chance to blow the game open.

“They took advantage of opportunities and we didn't and that has been a problem for us all year,” Trojans coach Bobby Pierce said. “That is something we just never seem to get straightened out.”

Still, Troy held a 3-0 lead going to the bottom of the fourth with sophomore Tyler Ray (4-3) looking sharp on the mound. Ray retired nine of the first 11 he faced, but opened the fourth inning with a walk, and just never was able to regain his composure.

“The seven-run inning was all started by three or four walks and two hit by pitch, and you can't do those things on the road and have a chance to win,” Pierce said. “It was a large crowd tonight and there was a lot of noise and Tyler just didn't react very well when they started to get back into it. When they got a chance to score, he just didn't throw well.”

The Cajuns plated seven runs in that fourth inning thanks to the four Ray walks, two hit batters and a pair of two-run doubles, one from Tyler Frederick and the other from Matt Goulas.

From there the Trojans never seemed to show much fight. Troy did plate two runs in the sixth, one on a homer by Steven Felix, and opened the seventh with a triple by Adam Bryant, who had four hits in the game. ULL brought Justin Robichaux, the son of the head coach, on to pitch after Bryant's triple, and he retired all nine men he faced to close out the win.

Reliever Joey Satriano (2-0) got the victory for ULL with 2.2 innings of relief. Robichaux earned his first save of the year.

Troy had 13 hits in the game, led by four from Bryant and three by Felix, while ULL managed just eight. Greg Fontenot led the Cajuns with three hits in the game.