Cajuns Lose Game One Against Little Rock 8-2

Louisiana's weekend series against Little Rock was expected to be a battle between two of the best teams in the Sun Belt West Division, but the Cajuns came out flat in a 8-2 loss in game one.

Louisiana baseball is now 21-16 overall and 7-6 in Sun Belt Conference play. They have lost five consecutive conference games and are 6-10 on the road this year.

Cajuns ace pitcher Spencer Arrighetti ran into problems early on against the Trojans offense, but he was able to get out of trouble to strand two runners in scoring position in the first inning.

Brett Borgogno hit his second home run of the season in the third inning to give the Cajuns offense their first hit of the day in style. They took a 1-0 lead, but it did not last long.

In the bottom half of the third inning, Little Rock tied the game up with a clutch two-out RBI-single. They did the same in the fourth inning to take a 2-1 lead.

Louisiana had a chance to answer in the fifth inning, but, with two runners on and two outs, they failed to get a hit and came away empty.

The sixth inning broke the game open for the Trojans. After Arrighetti gave up two one-out hits, head coach Matt Deggs made a change, taking the Cajuns ace out. Little Rock took advantage with three straight hits to take a commanding 6-1 lead.

Arrighetti's night ended at 94 pitches. He threw 5.1 innings and gave up seven hits. He had four runs charged to him and took his second straight loss to fall to 6-3 on the season.

Louisiana had an excellent opportunity in the seventh to answer the big half-inning by the Trojans. A leadoff walk and two singles set the Cajuns up with the bases loaded and nobody out. A strikeout was followed by a pinch-hit RBI-single by Brennan Breaux to get the Cajuns one run closer. The bases were still loaded, and the tying run came to the plate twice, but two strikeouts ended their chance at getting back into the game.

In the eighth inning, Little Rock added two more runs and went on to win the opening game 8-2.

Little Rock out-hit the Cajuns 14-7 in the game, but the big difference was hitting with runners on base. Louisiana was 3-14 with runners on while the Trojans were 10-21.

Deggs mentioned the Cajuns poor luck in the series opener.

"It was kind of an odd day with every hit they had finding a hole," Deggs said. "It was their day, what else can you say."

Little Rock overtook Louisiana atop the West Division with the win. The Cajuns will try to tie the series with game two. Connor Cooke will start for Louisiana.