Cajuns Even Series With 6-1 Win Over Jaguars

Pitching.

Defense.

Timely hitting.

Last night the Cajuns got two out of three in a 7-5 loss to South Alabama, as the Jaguars scored three unearned runs.

Tonight, the Cajuns got all three and, as a result, the weekend series is tied at one apiece.

Chris Griffitt and Cord Cockrell combined to scatter eight hits as Louisiana defeated South Alabama 6-1 before an announced crowd of 1,336 at Eddie Stanky Field in Mobile.

Griffitt (5-2) allowed just six hits over six innings before leaving the game with a tight hamstring.  The Jaguars' only run came on a solo homer by Brad Hook, his fourth of the year, leading off the sixth inning.

By that time, the Cajuns had pushed six runs across the plate.

Cockrell came on in the seventh and allowed just two eighth inning hits to notch his first career save.

The win for the Cajuns (18-20, 7-10 Sun Belt) was the 300th Sun Belt Conference win for Louisiana head coach Tony Robichaux.  Since 2000, the Cajuns have more wins and have the best winning percentage of any team in the Sun Belt Conference.

Louisiana got on the board in the second inning on a two-out bases loaded single by Tyler Girouard.  Three straight singles to start the third, including an RBI single by Chase Compton made it 2-0 and Dylan Butler's sacrifice fly later one batter later made it a 3-0 game.

Catcher Chris Sinclair lead off the fourth inning with a home run, his second, off starter Payton Gardner (0-3) to extend the Cajuns' lead to 4-0 and a RBI ground ball off the bat of Ryan Leonards scored Girouard to make it 5-0.

In the sixth, Dominick Francia, making his first appearance as a Cajun in his hometown of Mobile, walked and scored on a two-out hit by Butler off reliever Jordan Patterson for the final Cajuns' run.

Griffitt, meanwhile, stranded three baserunners in the first inning by getting catcher J. T. Files to fly out, and stranded two more runners in the second.  South Alabama (15-24, 9-8) left the bases loaded again in the fifth, as the Jaguars stranded 14 baserunners in the game.

The Cajuns have only won two series in their history at Stanky Field (2000, 2008) and will try to make it three tomorrow at 1pm.  Jordan Harrison (3-2, 2.82) will get the start for Louisiana, while righthander Jarron Cito (4-3, 6.24) gets the nod for the Jaguars.