LAFAYETTE, LA. — The High Point University baseball team made a trip down south to play the Ragin Cajuns of Louisiana Lafayette. In the first game of the weekend series, the Panthers came up short by two runs, 6-8.
Site: Russo Park
Score: High Point 6, Louisiana Lafayette 8
Records: High Point (5-8), Louisiana Lafayette (8-4)
It was a strong first inning for the Ragin' Cajuns on their home turf. Taking off on a 3-0 lead, Louisiana Lafayette scored off a sacrifice fly to right field and a home run to left center field.
With some ground to make up, the Panthers struggled through the first four innings at the plate. High Point's only two hits during that time frame came from
Brett Ahalt with a stand up double down the right field line and
Cael Chatham with a single to right center field.
Not able to bring in any runs from the two hits, the Ragin' Cajuns had taken a 4-0 lead with a sacrifice bunt to score one run from a bases loaded situation in the bottom of the third.
Leading off for the Panthers in the top of the fifth inning,
Jack Pokorak launched one out of the park to tag HPU's first run on the board. Paving the way for a spark at the plate,
Javon Fields got on with a shot to the short stop with two outs. Keeping the bats going, Chatham hit a deep shot to right center field, giving Fields enough time to round the bases to close the gap to 2-4.
Louisiana Lafayette snuck in another run in the bottom of the sixth, going up 5-2 with just three innings left in the game.
Big sticks in the top of the eighth for the Panthers opened the game up.
Blake Sutton came in clutch with a two-run homer over right field to cut the game to one. HPU entered the bottom of the eighth down 4-5.
A rocky half inning in the field for the Panthers, the team struggled to get the third out. Scoring one run off a single, the Ragin' Cajuns hit their second home run of the night to go up 8-4.
The four-run differential put pressure on the Panthers in their final at bat. Loading up the bases,
Adam Stuart secured a hit up the middle to contribute to two more runs for HPU. With the Panthers down 6-8 with one out, the team had two chances to bring in more runs. Unable to get the job done, High Point came two runs shy of beating the Ragin' Cajuns in game one.
Up Next: The Panthers return to Russo Park for an afternoon matchup with the Ragin' Cajuns at 3:00 p.m. (ET).
#GoHPU
