HAMMOND, La. — Rhett Centanni’s two-out homer in the bottom of the ninth inning proved to be the difference as Southeastern Louisiana edged Louisiana, 7-6, on Wednesday at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field.
SLU (21-13) hit three homers on the night to split the season-series with Louisiana (19-14), which returns home to face No. 10-ranked Southern Miss beginning Friday at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field at Russo Park.
Louisiana scored twice in the first inning off SLU starter Luke Lirette as Lee Amedee led off with a double to left to extend his hitting streak to 13 games. Rigoberto Hernandez added a bunt single before the duo scored on Steven Spalitta’s two-run single.
The Lions answered with two runs in the first off UL starter Andrew Herrmann as Justin Williams homered to left before Centanni added an RBI double. SLU took a 4-2 lead in the second on Ben Robichaux’s two-run homer to right and added two more runs in the fifth after a near, inning-ending double play with the bases loaded was overturned after review.
Louisiana added a run in the third inning when Donovan LaSalle doubled to left to drive in Hernandez, who finished 3-for-4 and scored three runs. The Ragin’ Cajuns tied the game at 4-4 in the fifth when Hernandez doubled to left and scored two batters later on Spalitta’s infield grounder.
The Ragin’ Cajuns chipped away at the lead in the eighth as LaSalle reached on a three-base error and scored on Kasen Bellard’s infield grounder to first. Louisiana tied the game in the ninth as Noah Lewis reached on an infield single, advanced on a pair of wild pitches, and scored on Hernandez’s infield single.
Nik Toups (2-1) earned the win for SLU, striking out three over 2.0 innings in relief. Cody Brasch (3-2) suffered the loss as Louisiana used six pitchers on the night.
The Ragin’ Cajuns collected 10 hits off four SLU pitchers with Lewis going 2-for-4 with a run scored. Mark Collins added a double for the Ragin’ Cajuns while Blaze Rodriguez worked an 8-pitch at-bat in the sixth inning for a single.
Louisiana will return home to Sun Belt Conference action beginning Friday for a weekend series against No. 10-ranked Southern Miss. First pitch for Friday’s opener is scheduled for 6 p.m., with game times set for 2 p.m. (Saturday) and 1 p.m. (Sunday).
All three games will be available on ESPN+ with fans able to listen locally on KPEL-FM (96.5) and worldwide on the Varsity Network.