Feb. 20, 2010
Box Score
LAFAYETTE, La. - The Colonels scored a pair of runs in the top of the ninth, but it would prove to be too little, too late as the Nicholls State University baseball team (0-2) dropped their second consecutive game to the UL-Lafayette Ragin Cajuns (2-0) by a final of 6-2 at M.L. Tigue Moore Field in Lafayette on Saturday.
The Colonels, who fell in Friday's season opener by the same score after giving up five runs to the Cajuns in the eighth, couldn't break through against the ULL pitching staff until the top of the ninth inning.
That's when redshirt sophomore first baseman Blake Bergeron plated a pair with a two-run triple. Bergeron went 3-for-4 on the day with a double and a single to finish a home run short of hitting for the cycle.
Junior left hander Clint Dempster took the loss in his first outing, giving up four runs on five hits in 3.0 innings pitched. The Cajuns struck in the bottom of the first with an RBI single from catcher Chad Keefer. ULL added three more in the bottom of the third by stringing together four hits to chase Dempster after going up 4-0 in the third.
Sophomore left hander Ryan Cooper came on in relief of Dempster and worked 4.0 innings while limiting ULL to four hits. Unfortunately, for the Colonels, the Cajuns added to their lead with an RBI single from Alex Fusilier in the fourth and a solo home run by Jordan Porrier in the seventh, and ULL starter Justin Robichaux scattered four Colonel hits through 7.0 scoreless innings.
The Colonels finally broke through in the top of the ninth as junior shortstop Chase Jaramillo, who went 2-for-4 on the day, reached on a throwing error with two outs. Freshman pinch hitter Mike Barba followed with a sharp single to right in his first collegiate at bat and Bergeron brought them both home with a bases-clearing triple.
However, that was all that Cajun reliever Randall Bulliard would allow as he shut the door on the Colonel rally by coaxing a groundout from Beau Faulk to end the game.
The Colonels will look to avoid a three-game sweep at the hands of the Cajuns when Nicholls hosts UL-Lafayette in their 2010 home opener at Ray E. Didier Field. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. A streaming webcast will be available at www.ThibodauxOnline.com.
