It didn't take Louisiana's Ragn' Cajuns very long to make a statement Saturday.

The Cajuns pounded out twelve hits and scored nine runs in the first four innings en route to a 9-1 win over Florida International to even their Sun Belt series at one game each in Miami, FL.

The Cajuns will go for the series win tomorrow at 9 am at FIU Baseball Stadium.

Cody Boutte (7-2) pitched his second straight complete game, scattering five hits.  FIU (23-18, 11-9 Sun Belt) did not score until the ninth inning.  Boutte walked five, two of them in the ninth and struck out six in his 122 pitch peformance.

Meanwhile, the Cajuns offense pounded starter Mike Franco (5-2) for seven hits and six runs over 2.1 innings of work.  The Cajuns got three hits in each of the first four innings, and by the fourth, all nine of the Cajuns' starters had at least one hit.

Dex Kjerstad led off the game with a sharp single to left.  Ryan Leonards then ripped a shot to third that Josh Anderson turned into a double play.  But Tyler Girouard singled and went to third when the ball was misplayed in center by Roche Woodard.  Seth Harrison drew a walk and a wild pitched gave the Cajuns a 1-0 lead.  After Caleb Adams was hit by a pitch, Blake Trahan singled to make the score 2-0.

The Cajuns continued to pound the ball in the second inning as catcher Michael Strentz led off with a double and was sacrificed to third by Jace Conrad.  Kjerstad's second hit scored Strentz.  Ryan Leonards then doubled up the gap to score Kjerstad and increase the Cajuns lead to 4-0.

In the third, Trahan walked with one out and Dylan Butler lauched his third home run of the year to left center to increase the lead to 3-0 and end Franco's day.  Reliever Chris Elander got Strentz to pop up, but Conrad launched his first home run of the year over the right field wall to make it 7-0.

The scoring ended in the fourth on a two run double by Caleb Adams over the head of the third baseman.

Boutte, meanwhile, allowed two singles in the second inning and then didn't allow a hit until the seventh, when FIU led off with back to back singles.  But Boutte got Zach Sweety to ground into a double play and struck out Woodard to end the threat.

The Cajuns (30-14, 11-9) and Panthers will play the rubber game of the series tomorrow morning at 9am.  The broadcast can be heard at 8:45 on News/Talk 96.5 FM KPEL.

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