Pitching, Two-Out Magic Carry Cajuns Past Old Dominion, 13-1
LAFAYETTE – Carson Fluno and two relievers combined on a one-hitter and Louisiana recorded eight of its 14 hits and 10 runs with two outs in a 13-1, seven-inning victory over Old Dominion in a Sun Belt Conference game Saturday afternoon at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field at Russo Park.
John Taylor and Lee Amedee each recorded three-hit games while Duncan Pastore drove in four runs, including a two-run homer in the first inning, as Louisiana (15-8, 4-1 SBC) won its sixth consecutive game and ninth in the last 10.
The final game of the three-game series is scheduled for an 11 a.m. start. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ with fans able to listen to the game in the Lafayette area on KPEL-FM (96.5) and worldwide on the Varsity Network app.
Freshman Chase Morgan (1-1, 2.66 ERA) will earn the start in Sunday’s finale for Louisiana with ODU (13-10, 2-3 SBC) countering with southpaw Ben Moore (0-0, 1.23 ERA).
“The game comes around and goes around and got to take them when you can get them,” head coach Matt Deggs said. “I’ve been waiting since Spring Training to put a game together where it was pitching, defense and the boys at the dish, and today we were able to do that.
“It was a matter of time. That is a good ball club (ODU) over there. They can really pitch the baseball, are well coached and we had to earn everything we got.”
Louisiana went to its two-out magic in the bottom of the first inning after Taylor led off with a bunt single before eventually scoring when Pastore lifted a fly ball that cleared the fence in left field off ODU starter Dylan Brown (1-2) for a 2-0 lead.
The Ragin’ Cajuns added a run in the fourth to build a 3-0 advantage when Conor Higgs greeted Monarch reliever Kellen Davis with a two-out double down the right-field line to plate Pastore.
That was more than enough for Fluno, who pitched 2.0 hitless innings before giving way to Jack Martinez (2-2) in the third. Martinez kept up the Cajuns’ dominance on the mound after not allowing a hit and striking out three in 3.0 innings of action.
Louisiana broke the game open with a seven-run, fifth inning as it sent 11 men to the plate and scored all of its runs with two outs.
ODU reliever Brandon Pond retired the first two batters in the frame before Taylor hit a single up the middle before moving to second on a walk to Maddox Mandino. Kyle DeBarge then lifted an RBI single to center to drive in Taylor for a 4-0 lead before Pastore lined a two-run single into right-center field.
Amedee extended the Ragin’ Cajuns lead to 7-0 when his opposite-field double scored Pastore from first and Higgs added his second RBI of the game when his single to right scored Amedee. The Cajuns then added two more runs to chase Pond as Jose Torres’ RBI single to left gave Loiusiana a 10-0 cushion.
ODU broke up a no-hitter in the sixth inning after Steven Meier hit a leadoff double off JT Etheridge and eventually scored on a wild pitch. Louisiana would come back with three runs in the bottom half of the inning as DeBarge hit an RBI double to left before Amedee and Stelly added RBI singles.
Pastore finished 2-for-2 with four RBI and four runs scored for Louisiana while DeBarge went 2-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to a career-high 14 games. Taylor went 3-for-4 to extend his hit streak to 11 games for the Ragin’ Cajuns while Amedee was 3-for-4 with two RBI.
Brown took the loss for ODU, which entered the series with the lowest team ERA among Sun Belt Conference teams (3.91). Pond allowed six hits and seven runs in 0.2 innings for the Monarchs with reliever Nick Sulpizio allowing three runs on four hits in 0.2 innings.
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