Cajuns Stumble Against Georgia Southern 3-2

A night of offensive frustration ended with a loss Saturday night as the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns fell to Georgia Southern 3-2 at J. I. Clements Stadium in Statesboro, GA.

The Cajuns (20-11, 9-5 Sun Belt) were a frustrating 0-9 with runners in scoring position and failed to get a runner home from third with less than two outs on three occasions in the loss.

"Sooner or later, somebody has to man up," head coach Tony Robichaux said.  We did a good job of getting runners on and getting them over but really had some poor at bats after that.  We have to man up right there."

Freshman Chase Cohen (3-2) the win for the Eagles (18-13, 7-7) allowing just one earned run in six innings.  Reliever Connor Simmons struck out four in the final three innings to get his first save of the season.

The Cajuns got a run in the first inning when Brian Mills singled, stole second and continued to third when catcher C. J. Brazil threw the ball into center field.  Mills scored on a wild pitch to give Louisiana a 1-0 lead.

Georgia Southern tied the game against Wyatt Marks (3-3) in the bottom of the inning when Marks walked Logan Baldwin with two outs and gave up a single to Ryan Cleveland.

The Cajuns came right back in the second when Brad Antchak walked with one out.  Nick Thurman singled him to third with two out and Antchak scored when Thurman purposely got into a rundown on a stolen base attempt.

Marks kept Georgia Southern off the board until the fifth when Jordan Wren led off with a single.  Brazil then grounded to shortstop but Antchak couldn't get the ball out of his glove and both runners were safe.  After Evan McDonald popped up a bunt, a wild pitch moved the runners up and Cal Baker delivered a two run single to give the Eagles their margin.

"We should have been out of that inning with no runs," Robichaux said.  "This was a game we should have won 2-1.  If our offense is going to get us just two we can live with it as long as we play defense.  We failed to turn a double play when we had a chance."

It's not like the Cajuns didn't have their opportunities.

In the fifth, Brenn Conrad led off with a double and was sacrificed to third by Nick Thurman.  But Conrad, who was going on contact, was thrown out at the plate on Kennon Fontenot's grounder to third.  Joe Robbins led off the sixth with a double and was sacrificed to third by Kyle Clement.  But Cohen threw out Robbins at the plate on Stefan Trosclair's safety squeeze to keep the Cajuns from tying the game.  Cohen walked Antchak to lead off the seventh and Conrad bunted him to second off Simmons.  But the lefty struck out Thurman and pinch hitter Dylon Poncho.

The Cajuns had one final chance in the ninth when Trosclair led off with an infield hit.Pinch hitter Ishmael Edwards bunted him to second and Trosclair stole third.  But, with the infield playing in, Antchak grounded to Cal Baker at second base who threw to the plate to nail Trosclair.

Marks pitched six innings, allowing five hits.  He walked one and struck out six in getting saddled with the hard luck loss.  Reliever Eric Carter struck out five of the six batters he faced in the final two innings.

Louisiana outhit the Eagles 6-5 in the game.

The Cajuns will send freshman Nick Lee to the hill tomorrow in an attempt to win the series.   Game time is 12:00 noon (CDT).