The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns had seven pitchers scatter six hits and the Cajuns took advantage of a critical error for a five run sixth inning defeat Northwestern State 8-2 before an announced crowd of 3,988 at M. L. "Tigue" Moore FIeld.

Connor Toups (1-0) went the first three innings, allowing three hits and one run with three strikeouts in his first appearance of the season.  Wyatt Marks, Chris Charpentier, Nick Zaunbrecher, Logan Stoelke and Eric Carter combined for five shutout innings before Reagan Bazar gave up a run in the ninth, but struck out the side.  The Cajuns' staff did not walk a batter until the eighth inning and combined for nine strikeouts.

Nick Thurman continued his torrid hitting, going 3-5 with two runs scored and an RBI.  Blake Trahan also had two hits, knocked in a run and scored two.  Dylan Butler led the Cajuns in RBI with three.

The Demons (6-7) got on the board first in the second inning when Chase Daughdrill hit a ball to right field that eluded a diving Butler for a triple.  C. J. Webster followed with a single to score Daughdrill.  A sacrifice moved Webster to second with one out, but Toups got Joel Atkinson to pop and got Nick Heath on a called third strike to prevent further damage.

The Cajuns (7-5) got the run right back in the bottom of the inning when Thurman doubled and was sacrificed to third.  Butler's fly ball to deep left center tied the game.

The Cajuns got the lead for good in the third inning when Jam Williams, getting his first collegiate start, walked, stole second and third and came home on Trahan's sacrifice fly against reliever Jordan Shaffer (0-1).

The game stayed 2-1 until the fifth.  Williams led off the inning against reliever Josh Morris with an infield hit, his first as a Cajun and promptly stole his third base of the night.  Trahan was then hit by a pitch.  Stefan Trosclair greeted reliever Brandon Stane with a single to load the bases.  Greg Davis' hard grounder to third was turned into a 5-2-3 double play putting runners at second and third with two out.  Tyler Girouard walked to re-load the bases and Trahan scored on Thurman's third hit of the night.  Joe Robbins then grounded to third and two runs scored when the ball was misplayed by third baseman Matthew Alford to make the score 5-1.  Butler then doubled up the gap to score two more runs and cap the five run fifth.

The Cajuns added another run in the sixth on an RBI single by Davis, scoring Trahan who had doubled with one out.

The Cajuns pitchers, meanwhile, faced the minimum over the next five innings and never allowed more than one runner to reach base in any inning until the ninth, when Bazar walked Caleb Dugas with one out.  Dugas advanced on a wild pitch and scored on Cort Brinson's single to score the final run.

The Cajuns open up Sun Belt Conference play this weekend, hosting Troy in a three game series at "The Tigue."  Game times are Friday at 6, Saturday at 2 and Sunday at 1pm.  All games this weekend can be heard on News/Talk 96.5 KPEL-FM.

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