Louisiana Completes Sweep of North Alabama with 13-3 Win

The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns scored a season-high 13 runs to finish off their weekend series sweep of the North Alabama Lions with a 13-3 victory on Mother's Day.

With the win, the Cajuns are now 26-20 this season. It is their first multi-game winning streak since they won eight games in a row in late March and early April.

Louisiana head coach Matt Deggs said the team did well executing the three phases of the game throughout the weekend series.

"It was good to see us do what we are supposed to do," Deggs said. "I thought we did a good job in all three phases this weekend."

Hayden Durke got the start for Louisiana, and he got into trouble early. The Lions used two hits and a walk to load the bases in the top of the first, and they took their first lead of the series on a wild pitch, but a double-play helped to prevent further damage.

The Cajuns tied it up in the bottom half of the first with a sacrifice bunt by Connor Kimple, and they took the lead in the second inning with a two-out RBI-single by Drake Osborn to make it 2-1. It marked Osborn's fifth-straight multi-hit day and the Cajuns never gave up the lead.

Durke finished with five strikeouts in three innings pitched. He only allowed three hits and the one earned run in his start. After the first inning, he had a nice performance.

Louisiana loaded the bases in the third inning with nobody out, and Josh Cofield doubled the team's runs with one swing, hitting a RBI-single to score two more and give the Cajuns their first multi-run inning of the contest. A double-steal scored the third run of the third inning, and Louisiana had a 5-1 lead.

Jack Burk earned the victory for the Cajuns by pitching two hitless innings in relief of Durke. The two pitchers halted any momentum the Lions could have gained from the first inning, and the offense did the rest.

In the fifth inning, the Cajuns offense continued to plate runs. Assisted by a fielding error, four hits scored four runs in the inning, including three with two outs, and Louisiana had broken the game open at 9-1.

Kimple added his fifth RBI of the weekend series in the sixth inning. With two outs in that half inning, Tyler Robertson doubled home a run and Brett Borgogno brought him home with a single to stretch the lead to 12-1.

In the seventh, the two teams traded runs, and the Lions scored their final run of the weekend series in the eighth inning, but the Cajuns had built up a massive lead with 10 total runs out of the third, fifth, and sixth innings. They finished up the series with a 13-3 win.

Deggs said he liked what he saw from the team this weekend, and he recognizes the important stretch they have to end the regular season.

"It was a good weekend all the way around," Deggs said. "Winning three games in a row is exactly what the doctor ordered. We've got Southern coming to town on Tuesday and then we've got Arlington this weekend."

Next up, the Cajuns finish their eight-game home stand with a matchup against Southern on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. After that, they travel to play UT-Arlington in a huge three-game weekend Sun Belt Conference series. UT-Arlington is currently in first place in the Sun Belt West Division with an 11-7 record. The Cajuns are tied in second place in the division at 9-9.