By Jason Pugh, Northwestern State Associate Athletic Director for External Relations; featured photo by Chris Reich, NSU Photographic Services
LAFAYETTE – Twice in Tuesday night’s game, the Northwestern State baseball team nearly erased a sizeable deficit against homestanding UL Lafayette.
Despite those close calls, the Demons saw their five-game winning streak come to an end as the Ragin’ Cajuns held off Northwestern’s multiple rallies and emerged with a 9-7 victory at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field.
“Like we told the guys, we’re really proud of the effort, really proud of the fight and the competitiveness and the way we showcased the growth of our program against such a quality opponent in this type of environment,” second-year head coach Chris Bertrand said. “We have to balance the scales in the way that we are happy about the fight and the competitiveness, but we have to have the knowledge that we have to execute baseball things more cleanly. I felt like we left too many pitches and too many plays out there on the field to expect a different result.”
The Demons (18-10) found themselves down 5-0 after the Cajuns (15-15) struck quickly against starter Kevin Robinson.
The bottom of the Northwestern order started the first Demon comeback of the night, touching Cajun starter Riley Marcotte for three third-inning runs. Robinson (5-1) settled in and kept the momentum in the Demon dugout with a perfect third inning.
Northwestern nearly erased that five-run deficit in the fourth when Braden Benton welcomed Tate Hess (3-2) with a double to center and scored two batters later on a Colin Rains double.
The one-run lead stood up as left-hander Corbin Talley stranded a pair of Cajuns in scoring position in the fourth before pinch hitter Carson Hepworth delivered a two-out, two-run double in the fifth.
Again, the Demons fought back behind Benton, who delivered his second home run in three games to lead off the sixth inning.
“Watching Braden continue to swing a hot bat gives us great options with our lineups as we move forward in games,” Bertrand said of the designated hitter, whose last four hits have been two doubles and two home runs.
Each team rapped out 13 hits Tuesday night, but the Demons ended up stranding three more runners than the hosts.
Three of the final four came in the eighth inning after Northwestern was threatening to erase a four-run deficit.
A run-scoring wild pitch with the bases loaded scored Hudson Brignac with two outs before back-to-back walks by Rocco Gump and Balin Valentine brought home a run and reloaded the bases for Benton.
Reliever Wil Taylor, who notched his second save of the season by collecting the final four outs, got Benton on a called third strike to leave the bases loaded.
Following a scoreless eighth inning from freshman Kaden McCoy, the Demons brought the tying run to the plate with two outs in the ninth but freshman second baseman Hudson Brignac could not add to the first three-hit game of his career, allowing the Cajuns to pick up their fifth straight win in the series.
“We had 13 punchouts on offense – even though we got 13 hits – but the punchouts came at the most critical moments,” Bertrand said. “It’s just cleaning up the execution and against an amazing baseball team in this environment, and using the knowledge that you can’t leave pitches or plays out on the field. That’s what we did tonight.”
The Demons conclude their two-game, midweek road trip Wednesday night at Tulane. First pitch for the first meeting between the Demons and the Green Wave in 12 years is set for 6:30 p.m.
UL Lafayette 9, Northwestern State 7
NSU 003 101 020 – 7 13 1
Cajuns 320 021 10x – 9 13 2
W – Tate Hess (3-2). L – Kevin Robinson (5-1). S – Wil Taylor (2). 2B – NSU, Reese Lipoma, Rocco Gump, Braden Benton, Colin Rains. Cajuns, Lyn Amedee, Carson Hepworth Connor Cuff, Clayton Pourciau. HR – NSU, Braden Benton (3). Highlights: NSU, Lipoma 2-5, 2B, RBI; Gump 2-4, 2B, RBI; Benton 2-4, HR, RBI; Rains 2-5, 2B, RBI; Hudson Brignac 3-5. Cajuns, Caleb Stelly 2-4; Hepworth 2-2, 2B, 3 RBIs; Cuff 2-4, 2B; Pourciau 3-4, 2B.
Records: Northwestern State 18-10; UL Lafayette 15-15.
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