Cajuns Baseball Drops Series Deciding Game 3 to TCU 5-1
The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns baseball team struggled at the plate and fell behind early to lose the third game of their weekend series with TCU 5-1.
A first-inning two-out rally got No. 15 TCU out to an early lead for the second straight day. Cajuns starter Carter Robinson only needed four pitches to get the first two outs of the game, but it took him 30 pitches to get the final out of the inning.
Starting with a two-out walk, TCU recorded a double, a three-run home run, another double, and an RBI-single to jump out to a 4-0 lead. A fly-out ended the inning, but the damage was done.
Louisiana head coach Matt Deggs spoke about the inning that got the Cajuns off to a rough start in the series finale.
"We were not able to get off the field with two outs," Deggs said. "Those guys were able to get all they really needed there."
After that inning, the Cajuns pitching did a great job of keeping TCU from ever extending the lead. The Horned Frogs had four hits in the first inning, but only recorded four hits in the final eight. Relief pitcher Jacob Schultz pitched one of the only clean innings for the Cajuns, striking out two in his scoreless seventh inning appearance.
A big issue in the game was Louisiana's offense. The Cajuns were held without a hit for the first five innings of the game. When they finally got a hit in the sixth inning, they grounded into a double play.
They had a chance to dig into the Horned Frogs' four-run lead in the seventh inning, but stranded two runners on an inning-ending strikeout. TCU responded by finally breaking through against the Cajuns' bullpen with a run in the top of the eighth inning to make it a 5-0 game.
Louisiana ended the shutout with a run scoring off of an error with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but they failed to get any closer in the 5-1 loss.
"Tip your cap to TCU," Deggs said. "They outplayed us in every phase of the game. We've got a lot of work to do to get to where we want to be as a team this season."
With the loss, the Cajuns fall to 11-10 on the season. Up next, they start Sun Belt Conference play against the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers at home for a three-game weekend series.