Griffitt and Cockrell Lock Down Jaguars

MOBILE, Ala. – The Ragin’ Cajuns baseball team scored six unanswered runs and Chris Griffitt and Cord Cockrell combined to scatter eight hits and hold South Alabama’s heavy hitting lineup to one run in a 6-1 victory Saturday evening at Stanky Field which evened the Sun Belt series between the two squads.

Louisiana (18-20, 7-10 Sun Belt) strung together five runs from the second through fourth inning to build a comfortable lead for Griffitt who held USA (15-24, 9-8 Sun Belt) scoreless for the game’s first five innings.

Griffitt’s only run allowed came on a solo home run by Brad Hook in the sixth inning. Cockrell shut out the Sun Belt’s top offense in league play for the final three innings to secure his first collegiate save.

Griffitt and Cockrell combined to hold the Jaguars to less than five runs for just the third time in 17 SBC contests.

The victory marked the 300th Sun Belt triumph of the Tony Robichaux era and kept UL in line for a chance at the series victory for the second time in the past three trips to Stanky Field.

The rubber match is scheduled for 1 p.m., on Sunday. The Cajuns, who had success with a lefthander on the mound Saturday evening, will start another one as Jordan Harrison (3-2, 2.82 ERA) gets the nod. The Jaguars will counter with righthander Jarron Cito (4-3, 6.24 ERA).

Seven of the 11 Cajuns who stepped to the plate tallied at least one hit as the squad reached double figures in hits (10) for the second time in the past three games. Dylan Butler and Daniel Nichols led the charge with two apiece.

Butler notched his 10th multiple-hit game and team-leading 11th multiple-RBI contest. The freshman from Belle Chasse increased his season RBI total to 35, moving him within five RBI of becoming the first freshman with 40 RBI since Les Smith (41) in 2009.

UL posted a victory on Saturday for the third straight weekend. The win keeps the Cajuns in a tie for sixth place in the Sun Belt standings and moves them within two games of USA for fifth place.

The Cajuns threw up runs on the scoreboard in three consecutive innings – starting with a single run in the second inning on a bases loaded single by Tyler Girouard – to take a commanding 5-0 lead.

Three straight singles off of USA starter Payton Gardner to start the third inning added another run to the lead. Ryan Leonards singled to right, advanced to third when Jace Conrad singled through the right side and scored on a flare from Chase Compton that dropped into shallow left field.

The Jaguars left side infielders chased down Compton’s shallow fly leaving third base open and Conrad took advantage by advancing to the bag. Butler followed with a deep fly to the warning track in left field allowing Conrad to trot home with the second run of the frame which upped the Cajuns lead to 3-0.

A leadoff home run by Chris Sinclair opened the top of the fourth inning and pushed the lead to 4-0. Girouard followed with a single up the middle, stole second and third base then scored on a grounder to shortstop by Leonards.

Griffitt was able to hold the Jaguars scoreless through five complete innings by working out of a bases loaded situation in the first and fifth inning. The Cajuns southpaw averaged right around 14 pitches per frame and stranded 10 Jaguars baserunners.

Louisiana took advantage of a fielding error on a Leonards sacrifice bunt in the sixth inning, plating an additional run. Dominick Francia, who advanced to second base on the bunt, wound up scoring with two outs in the inning on an infield single by Butler.

Hook ended Griffitt and the Cajuns’ shutout bid when he launched a solo home run over the right field fence leading off the bottom half of the sixth inning.

Griffitt left the game at the start of the USA seventh inning for precautionary measures due to a lingering hamstring injury suffered earlier in the season. Cockrell took over and posted zeros to finish off the Jaguars and hand Griffitt his fifth victory of the season.