Cajuns Win Series Over South Alabama, 10-2

The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns bounced back from being shut out on Saturday, pounding out 12 hits in taking a 10-2 win over South Alabama to win the weekend series.

It was the sixth straight series win this season for the Cajuns (16-12, 6-3 Sun Belt) and their 15th straight dating back to last year.

Hogan Harris (3-0) threw five strong innings, striking out seven and allowing just a pair of solo home runs.  He allowed six hits and walked two.

"We tell our guys in the fall during classroom work that solo homers don't hurt you.  It's the three run shot that does you in.  What I liked is, after Hogan gave up the second homer, he struck out the side.  He's pitching instead of throwing and he had a good three pitch mix today," head coach Tony Robichaux said.

Ishmael Edwards was the hitting star for the Cajuns, going 3-5, including a three run inside-the-park home run that broke the game open in the fourth inning.  He scored three times and drove in four runs.  Edwards finished the weekend 6-14 with six RBI.

The inside-the-park homer was the first since Kyle Olasin did it against McNeese on March 17, 2009.

South Alabama starter Tyler Carr (2-1) took the loss, allowing seven runs, five earned in 4.1 innings of work.

Drew LaBounty led off the game with a homer to right-center off Harris, but the Cajuns got the run back in the bottom of the inning on a Steven Sensley sacrifice fly, scoring Edwards.  Eddie Paparella led off the second with his fifth homer of the season, but that would be all South Alabama (16-12, 6-3)  would get.

Hunter Kasuls got a one out single in the third, stole second and came home on Edwards' single to tie the game and Joe Robbins untied it with a homer to right center to give the Cajuns a 4-2 lead.  It was Robbins' team-leading fourth homer of the season.

Tyler Stover led off the fourth inning with a single and was safe at second when LaBounty dropped the ball on a force attempt on a Kennon Fontenot grounder.  Handsome Monica doubled home Stover, which ended Carr's day.  With two out, Edwards hit a ball down the right field line off reliever Joey Jones that caromed off the brick wall of the box seats away from Paparella and Edwards raced all the way around for his second home run of the season to make the score 8-2.

An RBI single by Alex Pinero in the fifth and another by Sensley in the sixth completed the scoring.

Eight of the nine starters for the Cajuns had at least one hit, with Pinero, Fontenot and Robbins joining Edwards in the multi-hit department.

Jevin Huval followed Harris with three scoreless innings and Dylan Moore pitched a perfect ninth inning.

Louisiana will now entertain Nicholls State Tuesday night at 6:00 pm to wrap up the four game homestand.  The game will be heard on ESPN 1420 with pre-game beginning at 5:30.