The Ragin’ Cajuns baseball team have been on an absolute tear, winning eight of their last 10 games, including a massive 7–2 win over the No. 2-ranked LSU Tigers at ML “Tigue” Moore Field at Russo Park. That game saw the third highest attendance in the stadium’s history with 5,736 attendees.
Leading up to the game against the Tigers, which occurred on March 4, the Cajuns beat Kansas State twice, 1–0 and 3–2. They followed that up with a series win over UC San Diego, losing the first game 7–3 before winning the final two matches 8–0 and 4–3.
The UC San Diego game that occurred on Saturday, Feb. 28, and ended 8–0, included a complete game performance by the Cajuns’ ace pitcher, Andrew Herrmann. It was the first complete game, one-hit shutout by a Louisiana pitcher since 2016.
Herrmann pitched an absolute gem, racking up a career-high 13 strikeouts while only walking three batters. He got plenty of help from the batters, who racked up eight runs off of 13 hits, including a stellar performance from Maddox Mandino who went three for four at the plate, with two RBIs.
This great momentum rolled over perfectly into the game against LSU, especially as the Tigers were experiencing trouble of their own. These troubles included a 13–10 loss against Northeastern the night before their game against the Cajuns.
Despite the immense popularity of LSU in the entire state of Louisiana, the Tigue was a nearly solid shade of vermilion red as the Ragin’ Cajun faithful flooded into the stadium, even filling up the parking lots outside for tailgates.
Much of the Cajuns’ win can be placed at the poor performance of the Tigers’ bullpen and fielders. LSU recorded three errors in the game, two of which led to scores after wild throws. Another score came from a wild pitch, of which there were three total that allowed the Cajuns to advance on the base paths.
On the other side, Louisiana played a nearly perfect game on all fronts. The fielders only recorded a single error, and the bullpen kept an explosive lineup and allowed only two runs, a two-run home run by LSU third baseman Trent Caraway, his only hit of the night.
The Cajun batters did an excellent job of getting on base, and even better at putting pressure on the pitchers while on the base paths.
Louisiana took the lead early with three runs in the first inning. LSU tried to catch up with Caraway’s two-run home run at the top of the fifth inning, cutting the deficit to just one run. The Cajuns immediately responded in the bottom of the fifth with three runs of their own, adding one more in the seventh to get the final score.
Louisiana went through five pitchers, with the start going to Cody Brasch. Brasch pitched three shutout innings, only allowing three Tigers on base. Hayden Pearson, Parker Smith and Bryce Wilson combined for two innings. Combined, they only allowed five total base runners, and Smith was the only one to give up runs.
The final four innings went to Sawyer Pruitt. Pruitt only gave up two hits and a single walk while striking out four, meaning the entire staff ended the game with 11 total strikeouts. This was a massive win for both the team and the fans.
With the momentum growing even more, the Cajuns traveled north to Dallas to take on the Dallas Baptist University Patriots. DBU is consistently one of the better mid-major programs in the country, and this would be a good final test for Louisiana heading into conference play.
The Cajuns rose up to that challenge, taking the series with two wins, 6–5 and 11–5, before losing the third game 12–1.
For this series, a change was made to the weekend rotation, as Herrmann was given the start Friday night. He struggled more than usual, allowing five runs through five innings of work. While he struck out nine, Herrmann was likely off from having one less day of rest than he is used to.
The bullpen saved the day for the Cajuns as Tyler Papenbrock and Garret Carter finished the game, not giving up any more runs.
Herrmann can thank the batters for not having a loss go onto his record, as the Cajuns racked up a season-high three home runs in a game.
Kasen Bellard hit the first home run in the third inning. Donovan LaSalle hit the second home run of the day in the fifth, and Rigoberto Hernandez hit the third one of the day at the top of the ninth, giving the Cajuns their 6–5 lead.
JR Tollett started Saturday, and just like Herrmann he pitched for five innings and gave up five runs. Four of these runs came from a grand slam in the fourth inning.
Luckily for the Cajuns, all of the momentum that the Patriots got from that grand slam ended by a rain delay. Once the game restarted, the Patriots bullpen imploded on themselves, as they put 16 batters on base due to walks and hit by pitches.
The game ended 11–6 after the Cajuns allowed their opponents to beat themselves, taking the free win.
Game three was pretty much a wash for the Cajuns, as Coach Matt Deggs decided to save the Cajuns energy for the upcoming five-game week. This included letting freshman Colt Brown, who has been the starting catcher, pitch for a couple of innings.
Louisiana will have two midweek games, one against the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and another against the McNeese State Cowboys. This upcoming weekend will be the first series of Sun Belt Conference play and to kick it off the Cajuns will host the South Alabama Jaguars.