Ragin Cajun baseball falls to Tulane, 9-6 in midweek game

LAFAYETTE, La, (KLFY) The Tulane baseball team scored eight runs over the course of the first two innings and needed to withstand a Cajuns rally midway through as the Green Wave defeated Louisiana-Lafayette 9-6 Wednesday night at Russo Park in Lafayette.

The Green Wave (4-0) produced their nine runs on 10 hits in the game, getting a late run to put a bit of distance between themselves and the Cajuns (1-4), as eight different players produced a base knock on the evening for Tulane.

Hudson Haskin went 2-for-5 with a double and an RBI, while Jonathon Artigues finished the game 2-for-3 with a double, triple, RBI and a run scored. Grant Mathews belted his first home run of the season and drove in three, while Frankie Niemann and Trevor Minder each brought in two on the night.

Tulane got a solid opening from starter Clifton Slagel on the mound who pitched the first two innings and gave up a hit and struck out two, but it was freshman Luke Jannetta (1-0) who earned the win by pitching 3.1 shutout innings and struck out two. Keagan Gillies (2) picked up the save and preserved the win in the ninth.

With runners at first and third and no outs in the first, Haskin roped a double to left center and scored Ty Johnson to give Tulane an early 1-0 lead. With the bases loaded, Niemann smoked a double down the left field line to score two more and make it 3-0 Green Wave.

Artigues pushed the lead to four with a sacrifice fly RBI to left to make it a 4-0 game, with Minder pushing across the fifth run of the frame on an RBI ground out to first.

Staring down a 2-2 count with runners at second and third, Mathews connected for a towering home run to right center to push Tulane’s lead to 8-0 just two innings into the game.

Tulane was cruising until the fourth inning, when Louisiana-Lafayette was able to plate five runs on two hits, sending 11 batters to the plate in the inning to pull within three. In the very next inning, the Cajuns plated another run on two hits to cut the Green Wave lead to two at 8-6.

The Green Wave got an insurance run to help the cause in the eighth, as Artigues one-hopped a triple off the fence in right center, as Minder followed up with a sharp single down the right field line to score Artigues easily from third to push the lead to three up 9-6.