Frith’s Relief Effort Leads Cajuns to Split

Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns were in danger of being swept in their conference series with South Alabama after losing the first game of Sunday's doubleheader 9-5 and falling behind 6-0 after the top of the first inning in the final game.

Enter Ben Frith.

The little used senior threw more innings Sunday than he had in his entire career combined and allowed just four hits over 6.1 innings.

That performance allowed the Cajuns' bats to go to work, and the Cajuns roared back to a 17-7 win in a game called in the bottom of the seventh because of the mercy rule to salvage the final game of the series.

Frith (1-0) allowed just one run, that coming in the fourth inning.  By that time, the Cajuns had a 10-7 lead and Louisiana (35-17, 16-11 Sun Belt) continued the offensive barrage to end the game early.

Earlier in the day, Matt Bell threw seven strong innings and South Alabama (39-14, 19-8) scored in each of the first five innings, en route to the 9-5 win.

The Jags pounded out eighteen hits in the Sunday opener, with Nick Zaharion and Dustin Dalken collecting three hits each.  Bell (6-0) meanwhile allowed four earned runs and seven hits over seven innings.

In the doubleheader, the Cajuns pounded five homers, with Caleb Adams hitting two in the nightcap, Dylan Butler belting one in each game and Michael Strentz hitting a homer in game one.

The Cajuns will close out the regular season in Monroe next Thursday-Saturday with each game beginning at 6pm.  ULM was eliminated from conference tournament contention with their extra inning loss Sunday to Middle Tennessee.