LAFAYETTE, La. — WKU wiped out a two-run deficit with a four-run sixth inning, but Louisiana-Lafayette came right back and re-took the lead with five of their own in the home-half en route to a 12-5 win Saturday night in Lafayette, La. The Ragin' Cajun win evens the Sun Belt Conference series at one game apiece. The loss is WKU's fifth-straight Saturday defeat and drops its record to 33-19 overall and 14-12 in conference play. Louisiana-Lafayette improves to 33-17 and 17-9 this season.
Six Hilltoppers had two-hit games to pace the 14-hit WKU attack, the most hits WKU has had in a game since the April 20 game against Kentucky at Bowling Green Ballpark. Kes Carter also drove in a pair of runs to go along with his two hits, and Logan Robbins reached base four times and scored twice. Chad Keefer, Lance Marvel and Justin Robichaux all had three hits for Louisiana-Lafayette.
Shane Cameron did not factor into the decision for the fifth-straight start after pitching four innings and giving up two earned runs. Taylor Haydel was saddled with his second-straight tough-luck loss, as he pitched one-and-two-thirds innings and gave up one hit and three runs, all of which were unearned. Dayton Marze pitched 3.1 scoreless innings to get the win for the Ragin' Cajuns.
The Hilltoppers continued their trend of manufacturing runs from last night when they scored first in the top of the second inning. Robbins singled, stole second base, advanced to third on a groundout to the right side and scored on a Matt Borgschulte sacrifice fly off Ragin' Cajun starter T.J. Geith to open the scoring.
Louisiana-Lafayette evened it up in the bottom of the third with a run, the first of six-straight innings in which they plated a run. Jordan Poirrier tripled with two outs and scored on Keefer's bloop single, before Cameron got a flyout to end the inning.
Right away in the next half-inning WKU threatened but could not score, and the game remained tied at 1. Jared Andreoli singled to start the inning but was erased on a caught stealing after he overslid the bag on the slippery field turf. Robbins walked and moved up 90 feet on a Jake Wells single, but WKU stranded runners on the corners after Wells was erased on a groundout and Blake Crabtree flew out.
Louisiana-Lafayette scored a run in both the fourth and fifth innings to lead 3-1 after five innings, before WKU put up four runs in the top of the sixth to take its first lead of the game. Robbins singled and Wells and Crabtree were hit by pitches to load the bases with two outs in the sixth, and Carter delivered a two-RBI single to tie the game at 3. Crabtree then scored on a wild pitch before Payton drove in a run with a single of his own to put WKU on top, 5-3, after five-and-a-half innings.
The four-run sixth inning Saturday night was WKU's first inning of four or more runs in a game since the April 30 contest at Troy.
But WKU could not hold the two-run lead and Louisiana-Lafayette scored five times in the home-half of the sixth to re-take the lead for good. Keefer provided the big blow when he blasted a grand slam off Bart Carter.
The Ragin' Cajuns added a pair of runs in both the seventh and eighth innings to bring the game to its eventual final score of 12-5.
WKU has now lost its last five games when trying to clinch a weekend series.
Up Next: The Hilltoppers and the Ragin' Cajuns will decide the series Sunday afternoon at 1:00. A win for WKU would snap a stretch of two-straight conference series losses and three-straight road series defeats. Neither team has declared a starting pitcher for Sunday's series finale.
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