Louisiana Walks Off Troy in Game Three

Sunday, March 25

Lafayette, La.

1:00 PM

Troy University

16-8, 3-3

Louisiana

10-13, 2-4

Troy

Louisiana

3/25/2018 4:58:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

By: Jace Sanders

LAFAYETTE – Louisiana's Zach LaFleur squeaked a single through the right side to drive in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth, as the Cajuns defeated Troy, 4-3, in game three of the Sun Belt set at Russo Park Sunday afternoon.

With one out and a runner on second, LaFleur beat CJ Carter (3-2) with the RBI single to salvage one of the three games for Louisiana (10-13, 2-4). Carter gave up just the one run on two hits with a strikeout in 0.2 innings, officially.

The Trojans (16-8, 3-3) tied the game in the top of the eighth when Drew Frederic drove home Brandon Lockridge on a two-out RBI double. Frederic was one of three Troy players to turn in a multi-hit game with a 2-for-4 performance – Frederic, Matt Sanders and Mason Rogers.

Sanders, who led the Trojans all weekend long at the plate, finished 3-for-4 with two doubles, an RBI and a run scored in the game. In the three-game series, the senior was 10-for-13 (.769) with five runs, three doubles and an RBI.

It was a struggle all day for Troy to string anything together off two strong pitching performances from Colten Schmidt and Logan Stoelke (2-0). Schmidt allowed three runs – two earned – on seven hits in seven innings of work, while Stoelke allowed just one hit in the final two innings on the mound to earn the win.

Quotable – Troy head coach Mark Smartt
"Disappointing right there, but give it to them, they fought hard and they came away with the win. We fought like crazy to win this game just couldn't pull it out. What a weekend for Matt Sanders; he's not flashy, he just comes in day-to-day and does his job."

Noteworthy
• Matt Sanders finished 3-for-4 in the game for his 63^rd career multi-hit game for the Trojans. He was 4-for-4, 3-for-5 and 3-for-4 in the four games this weekend – a 10-for-13 overall performance.

• Despite the loss, Troy was able to earn just the third all-time series win over Louisiana – the first since back-to-back wins in 2011 and 2012.

• Senior Mason Rogers recorded his first multiple-hit game in 2018 with two hits Sunday. Rogers finished last season with 10 multi-hit games in the final 14 games of the season.

• The Cajuns were able to fend off being swept at Russo Park – it would have been the first sweep since ULM in 2012.

On Deck
Troy will head back to the friendly confines of Riddle-Pace Field for 80's Night against Alabama State Tuesday at 6 p.m.