Sa-Weep! Cajuns Beat UTA for Sixth Straight Win

For the third straight game, the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns used pitching, defense and timely hitting to defeat UT Arlington, 4-1 and earn a sweep of their three game Sun Belt series.

The win for the Cajuns (28-15, 13-7 Sun Belt) was their sixth straight victory, the third time this season that Louisiana has won six in a row.

Wyatt Marks (5-0) worked out of trouble in the third and fourth innings to get the win, his second straight victory in conference play.  Marks allowed seven hits and one run through seven innings.  He walked only one  batter and struck out four.  Dylan Moore pitched the final two innings for his sixth save of the season.

Joel Kuhnel (2-2) took the loss for UTA (17-25, 8-13), allowing seven hits and four runs over 6.1 innings.  He walked one and struck out two.

UTA took a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Darien McLemore led off with a single, his first hit of the series.  Eric Tate doubled to put runners at second and third with no outs.  After Brady Cox hit back to Marks, Matt McLean doubled to the base of the wall in right, scoring McLemore  But Tate misread the hit and only got as far as third.  The base running mistake proved to be costly as Christian Hollie popped up and Travis Sibley struck out and the Mavericks had to settle for one run.

The Cajuns came right back as Derek Herrington laid down a bunt single with one out.  Blake Trahan forced Herrington with a ground ball, but Kyle Clement then hit an opposite field home run to left to give the Cajuns a lead they would never relinquish.  It was Clement's sixth home run in his last eleven games.

UTA threatened again in the fourth on a single by Levi Scott, a single by Jackson Morris and an infield hit by Cody Farrell.  But McLemore's liner was speared by Trahan, who threw to Even Powell at third for a double play.  Tate then flied to right to end the inning.

After that, Marks settled down, not allowing a hit until Cox's single with two out in the seventh.

The Cajuns added to their lead in the fourth on a single by Tyler Girouard, a wild pitch and Dylan Butler's single up the middle.  Louisiana concluded the scoring on a long home run by Stefan Trosclair, his tenth of the season, in the sixth.

Moore allowed a leadoff single in the eighth, but Powell started a 5-4-3 double play to end that threat.  Pinch hitter Tanner Houston singled with one out in the ninth, but Trosclair backhanded McLemore's grounder to start a 4-6-3 twin killing to end the game.

Louisiana will go for its seventh straight win Tuesday night in Thibodaux when they take on Nicholls State.