Louisiana-Lafayette will face Arizona (39-20) on Saturday in the winners’ bracket, while Princeton (24-20) will play Sam Houston State (41-21) in an elimination game.
Advertisement
Monday, fans gathered at The Tigue to cheer on the Ragin’ Cajun baseball team as they took on Arizona for the regional round of the NCAA Tournament.
“We knew game two was probably going to be a dog fight, and it was”, head coach Tony Robichaux said.
Marks (5-7) lasted only the two innings, and Eric Carter came in from the bullpen for the bottom of the third.
The Cats advanced Monday thanks to excellent pitching from right-hander Kevin Ginkel and left-hander Cameron Ming.
Ryan Aguilar doubled in the first inning and the throw to second base got away, allowing Zach Gibbons to score for a 1-0 Arizona lead. Catcher Cesar Salazar led off the inning with a single up the middle and moved to second when Louis Boyd drew a one-out walk. It’s the second time MSU has hosted a super regional, the first was in 2007. A groundout then ended the inning.
The Wildcats scored three runs in the first and two in the second. But with two men in scoring position, Ginkel struck out Hunter Hearn to end the seventh and keeping it a 6-5 game.
The Wildcats tacked on another run in the 2nd inning.
Arizona beat Louisiana-Lafayette twice on the Ragin’ Cajuns’ home field to wrap up a four games-in-36 hours odyssey that put the Wildcats in the Super Regionals for the first time since they won the national title in 2012. Ramer, Gibbons and Dalbec all finished with two-hit games in the win.
After entering the postgame interview room Monday afternoon, Jay Johnson was asked to make an opening statement about his team’s 6-3 victory over Louisiana-Lafayette.
Arizona pitcher Nathan Bannister was selected as the regional’s most outstanding player.
Advertisement
“Go Cajuns, we love you boys”, said Dale Hazelwood.
