Young, Talley Overpower Michigan State, Cajuns Rally for 6-3 Win
Two runs via a blast.
Two runs via a squeeze.
Saturday afternoon, Ragin' Cajuns Baseball was BACK!
Ben Fitzgerald's two run pinch hit homer gave the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns the lead and Jonathan Windham's squeeze bunt plated two insurance runs as the Cajuns (6-9) came back from an early three run deficit and defeated Michigan State, 6-3 at the Cox Diamond Classic in Pensacola Florida.
It was another dominating start for senior right hander Brandon Young, who allowed three unearned runs in the first inning and then shut down the Spartans the rest of the way. Young allowed just two hits in 6.1 innings of work. He walked four and struck out ten.
Lefty Brandon Talley was equally impressive, going 2.2 innings of hitless ball to earn his first save of the season He walked two and struck out six.
Trailing 3-1 in the bottom of the seventh, Colton Frank drew a leadoff walk off losing pitcher William Christopherson. Alex Hannie then tripled up the right center field gap to score Frank and cut the lead to 3-2. Head coach Matt Deggs then called on Fitzgerald who lined a shot over the right field wall to give the Cajuns the lead for good.
Louisiana added two more runs in the eighth when Sebastian Toto singled and Frank's bunt was mishandled. Alex Hannie bunted the runners to second and third and, on the first pitch to Windham, Deggs put both runners in motion and they both scored on Windham's squeeze bunt.
Michigan State (9-5) got on the board in the first inning when Young walked Bailey Peterson with one out. Peter Ahn then hit a hard grounder that Colton Frank was unable to handle and Andrew Morrow was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Zach Iverson's ground ball plated one run, a wild pitch allowed Ahn to score and Morrow tallied the third run on a balk.
Michigan State got both of its hits in the second when Jack Frank singled and after Adam Proctor struck out, Brendan Regan singled. But Gavin Bourgeois made a sliding catch on a foul ball hit by Bryce Kelley and Young caught Peterson looking for the third out.
Louisiana finally broke through against MSU starter Jarrett Olson in the fourth when Nick Hagedorn doubled and Hayden Cantrelle scored on Toro's single to the the lead to 3-1.
Michigan State threatened against Young just one other time when Young issued back to back walks with two out, but fired a called third strike past Morrow to end the threat.
Talley entered with one out in the seventh. A walk and an error gave the Spartans a threat, but Talley fanned Ahn and Morrow and then proceeded to strike out four more consecutive hitters.