LAFAYETTE, LA –The Wright State baseball program fell short 3-2 to Louisiana on Friday night in the season and series opener down in Louisiana. The Raiders and Ragin' Cajuns are back in action on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. ET in game two of the weekend series.
Game 2 - Saturday, February 17 - 3:00 p.m. ET - Live Stats
The low-scoring game started slow, with the Raiders getting only one hit over the first three innings, coming in the form of a first inning single back up the middle by
Jay Luikart, while the Cajuns were the first put a run to the board with a solo homer from Trey LaFleur in the bottom of the third to take the 1-0 lead. Wright State responded in the fourth, when Luikart reached on a misplay by the Louisiana left fielder and later advanced to third on a
Patrick Fultz groundout.
Luke Arnold's sacrifice fly into shallow right field moments later was just deep enough to plate Luikart, who just beat the tag to tie the game at 1-1.
The Raiders took the lead in the top of the seventh, when
Carson Clark singled with two outs and moved to second on a wild pitch, setting up
Sammy Sass' two-out RBI double to left field and give Wright State the 2-1 advantage. The score remained that way until the ninth, when Louisiana's Maddox Mandino led off the frame with a walk to set the inning in motion. A squeeze bunt by Luke Yuhasz tied the game at two, and moments later with the bases loaded, Louisiana got a sacrifice fly from Jose Torres to walk off winners.
Wright State starter
Jake Shirk began his season with a quality start, tossing seven innings and allowing just three hits and the lone run while striking out four and not allowing a walk.
Garrett Peters and
Mychal Grogan combined to put a zero on the board in the eighth before Luikart came on for the ninth and was charged with the loss after allowing the two runs on one hit and two walks.
The Raiders finished with four hits, one each from Clark, Luikart, Sass and
Gus Gregory, who singled in the eighth as the Raiders loaded the bases with two outs but were unable to push another run across, with Arnold and Sass notching the RBI.
LP Langevin, the fourth of four pitchers used by Louisiana, ended up with the win after tossing the final two innings for the hosts, including getting out of the eighth inning jam. Louisiana finished with three hits and also had three baserunners via walks throughout the course of the night.
