Once again, there weren't a lot of hits coming off the bats of the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Friday night in their game with Georgia State.

But some of those hits were timely and the Cajuns played rock solid defense for the second straight game as the Cajuns defeated Georgia State 7-3 before 4,289 at M. L. "Tigue" Moore Field.

Gunner Leger (3-1) worked the first five innings for the Cajuns, giving up seven hits and two runs.  He walked two and struck out three.

"I like the way he battled even though he didn't have his best stuff," head coach Tony Robichaux said.  "He battled, and Harris and Huval did a great job out of the bullpen."  Hogan Harris and Jevin Huval combined to allow one run in the final four innings, with Huval getting his second save of the season.

Louisiana (24-9, 5-3 Sun Belt) got on the board in the first inning on Joe Robbins' line drive home run in the first inning, his seventh of the year.  But Georgia State (12-11, 2-3) evened the score as Jarrett Hood, Jack Thompson led off with singles to right and moved up on Ryan Blanton's bunt single.  Rhett Harper then grounded into a force play at second with Hood scoring.  Leger, however, got out of the inning when WIll Kilgore flied out to short left, with Brian Mills throwing out Thompson at the plate to end any further scoring.

The Panthers took the lead in the third when Justin Jones walked and Luke Leonard sacrificed him to second  James Clements then singled to drive in Jones, but again, the Cajuns' defense did the job as Leger got Joey Roach to hit into a 1-6-3 double play.

The Cajuns took advantage of a pair of Panthers' mistakes in the third to tie the game.  Nick Thurman reached on a two base error by Thompson and advanced to third when Roach threw the ball into center field on a pickoff attempt.  Derek Herrington's sacrifice fly brought home Thurman with the tying run.

Marc-Andre Habeck (1-1) shackled the Cajuns on just one hit through the first four innings, but Stefan Trosclair led off the Cajuns' fifth with a single.  Thurman sacrificed him to second and after Herrington struck out, Mills delivered a run scoring single to give the Cajuns the lead.  Brenn Conrad then hit a ball into short left that Jones dropped for the third Panthers' error of the night, sending Mills to third.  Robbins walked to load the bases and Steven Sensley was hit by a pitch to force in a run.  Habeck then uncorked a wild pitch scoring Conrad and giving the Cajuns a 5-2 lead.

The Cajuns completed their scoring against reliever Alex Hegner in the sixth when Brad Antchak was hit by a pitch and was sacrificed to second by Thurman.  Herrington walked and Mills and Conrad delivered back to back RBI singles to make the score 7-2.

Leger was pulled after Thompson led off the sixth with a single.  Hogan Harris came in and got Blanton on a swinging bunt and struck out Rhett Harper.  Pinch Hitter Sam Few then lined out to Conrad to end the inning.

Georgia State scored their final run in the seventh when Leonard walked with one out and Clements singled.  Roach hit into a force play retiring Clements with Leonard moving to third and Hood's single scoring the run.  Huval came on and walked Thompson to load the bases before getting Ryan Blanton on a ground ball to end the threat.

The Cajuns will go for the sweep Saturday morning at 11am with freshman Nick Lee (3-1) getting the start.  Pregame can be heard at 10:30 on 96.5 KPEL-FM.  Mackenzie Bourg, who has advanced to the final four singers in the final season of American Idol, will be on hand to sing the national anthem.  His performance will be recorded as part of his hometown visit, with highlights to be shown on the next episode next Thursday night on FOX.

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