Cajuns Lose Series to Southern Miss in 1-0 Pitching Battle

The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns lost their second straight game to the Southern Miss Golden Eagles in a 1-0 pitching duel.

With the loss, the Cajuns have dropped their fourth straight game and are now 9-7 on the season.

Cajuns starting pitcher Spencer Arrighetti gave up the only run of the game in the bottom of the 1st inning on a RBI-double, but he struck out two batters with the bases loaded to keep it a one-run game. Arrighetti tossed 31 pitches in the first inning and his high pitch count kept him from going deep into the match.

The Cajuns starter kept the team in it with a solid performance after the first, but the offense was unable to give him any run support. The bullpen pitched 3.1 scoreless innings, only allowing one hit to keep the team within one run, but the Cajuns bats couldn't string a big inning together.

Southern Miss starting pitcher Walker Powell shined against the Cajuns, and Louisiana's hitters failed to figure him out for the entire game. He threw eight innings, allowing three hits and striking out 10 without walking a batter.

The Cajuns offense went down in order in five of the first six innings. Their best opportunity to tie the game came in the top of the 8th inning when a one-out bunt-single by senior Brennan Breaux was followed up by a stolen base by pinch-runner Alex Hannie. However, with the tying run on second with one out, the next two Cajuns batters struck out to end the threat.

The Cajuns offense finished the game with four hits in 30 plate appearances. They didn't have a single multi-hit inning in the loss.

Head coach Matt Deggs was impressed with his team's pitching performance despite the lack of offense from the Cajuns in the loss.

"If you like pitching, it was a good game," Deggs said. "It's been good pitching all weekend on both sides."

The Cajuns will try to salvage the weekend and avoid the sweep in game three of the series tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.