Baseball Defeats No. 15 Louisiana-Lafayette, 6-4

Wednesday, March 22

Lafayette, La.

6:00 p.m.

Tulane University

8-13

Louisiana-Lafayette

11-8

Tulane

Louisiana

Baseball Defeats No. 15 Louisiana-Lafayette, 6-4

Mar 22, 2017 | Baseball

Box Score

Box Score

LAFAYETTE, La. – For the second straight game, Tulane baseball jumped out to an early lead and relied on strong pitching performances to defeat an in-state opponent. Wednesday, the Green Wave scored four runs in the first inning, and Sam Bjorngjeld and Brandon Issa were solid in relief, as the Wave picked up a big 6-4 road win at No. 15 Louisiana-Lafayette at M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field.

Bjorngjeld entered in the first inning with the bases loaded and a run already in, retired the side with a groundout, and proceeded to shutout the Ragin' Cajuns bats for the next five innings. In all, he struck out four batters and allowed just three hits and a walk in 5.1 innings to earn his first victory of the season. Issa retired all five batters he faced after entering with the tying run at the plate and one out in the eighth. He struck out four of those batters, and picked up his first career save.

Tulane (8-13) has now won three games in a row, and five of its last six contests, entering the final weekend of non-conference play. Louisiana-Lafayette fell to 11-8 on the season, and starter Jevin Huval (0-1) lasted one inning and took the loss.

"We won the game 6-4, but Sam was the MVP," Tulane head coach Travis Jewett said. "To come in with the bases loaded in the first inning, in a hostile environment, finish that inning, and put up a bunch of zeroes, he was the guy of the game. Coming into the game, in a five-game week, we anticipated maybe seeing a few more arms tonight. But we could smell momentum, and he had a good look to him and was commanding the zone, so we just kept riding the wave."

On the first two pitches of the game, Grant Witherspoon and Hunter Williams doubled and singled, respectively. Jarret DeHart singled up the middle, and in five pitches Tulane had taken a 1-0 lead. Kody Hoese dropped a sacrifice bunt, but the throw from the pitcher to third base went wide, allowing Williams to score. Sal Gozzo followed with an RBI groundout, and Tyler Heinrichs hit a sacrifice fly to left, giving the Wave a 4-0 lead.

ULL answered with a run in the first on a single, followed by walk, hit batter, and walk to make it 4-1. The Green Wave added a pair of runs in the third on sacrifice flies by Gozzo and Heinrichs. Williams, who led off the frame with his second single of the night, and DeHart, who walked, scored on the sac flies to make the score, 6-1.

After the third, Tulane was unable to get much going offensively. The Wave recorded just one hit – a leadoff single in the fourth by Lex Kaplan, who also drew a walk in the sixth and ninth innings.

ULL cut it to 6-3 in the seventh with a two-run home run by Joe Robbins. The Cajuns added a run in the eighth on a pair of singles by Tyler Stover and Brenn Conrad to make the score 6-4. With one out in the eighth, Issa relieved Keagan Gillies, who entered to begin the seventh. Issa stranded a runner at second with a pair of strikeouts, then struck out the final two batters in the ninth inning to end the game.

The Green Wave returns home this weekend for its final non-conference series of the season against Stetson. Game times are 6:30 p.m. Friday, 4 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday. The games will be broadcast on 88.3 FM WRBH and the TuneIn Radio app, and live video and live stats can be found at www.TulaneGreenWave.com.

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Tulane 6, Louisiana-Lafayette 4 (Mar 22, 2017 at Lafayette, La.)
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Tulane.............. 402 000 000 - 6 6 0 (8-13)
Louisiana-Lafayette. 100 000 210 - 4 9 1 (11-8)
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Pitchers: Tulane - ANDREWS, Ted; BJORNGJELD, Sam(1); GILLIES, Keagan(7); ISSA, Brandon(8) and
GOZZO, Paul. Louisiana-Lafayette - Huval, Jevin; Guillory, Evan(2); Lee, Colton(4);
Erbe, Haden(6); Norman, Jacob(8); Moore, Dylan(9) and Monica, Handsome.
Win-BJORNGJELD, Sam(1-2) Save-ISSA, Brandon(1) Loss-Huval, Jevin(0-1) T-2:43 A-4910
HR LA - Robbins, Joe (2).
Weather: 86, clear, calm