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Cajuns’ bats stay hot as Louisiana completes the sweep of Georgia State

Posted at 5:35 PM, May 12, 2019
and last updated 2019-05-12 19:50:01-04

LAFAYETTE (Press Release) – After falling behind early in Sunday’s series finale, the Louisiana Baseball team rallied with three, multi-run innings to secure a 11-5 victory over Georgia State and wrap up a series sweep at Russo Park.

All seven of Louisiana’s seniors saw action in their final game at home, with all five offensive players recording a hit. Grant Cox started the game on the mound and went 4.0 innings, while Gunner Leger closed out the final 1.1 innings to earn the save. The team also recognized clubhouse manger Jacob Raggio for his service to the program.

Senior Handsome Monica made the most of his final game at Russo Park with three hits, including a monster, three-run moon shot over the scoreboard to open the scoring for Louisiana. The long ball was his 12th of the season and the most by a Ragin’ Cajun since Stefan Trosclair hit 16 in 2015. He finished the game with four RBI.

Todd Lott went 2-for-5 on the afternoon, scoring twice and driving in three runs. Seniors Hunter Kasuls, Daniel Lahare and Kole McKinnon also added two hits on the day, while Orynn Veillon extended his hitting streak to 17 games with his double in the eighth inning.

On the hill, Caleb Armstrong earned the win after relieving Cox, finishing the game after giving up just one run in 1.2 innings of work. Leger finished the game to earn his third save of the season and in the process, struck out two batters to push his career total to 284, tying him with Hunter Moody for fifth in the Louisiana record books.

Georgia State (14-38, 5-22) got things going in the first inning with two runs before adding another in the fourth on a solo home run to go ahead, 3-0.

That all changed with one swing of the bat in the fourth when Monica demolished a 1-0 pitch, sending the ball sailing well over the scoreboard to knot the game up at 3-3. Louisiana took its first lead of the game two batters later when McKinnon roped a single to left field, allowing Lahare to score.

The Panthers tied the game back up in the top of the sixth inning, but the Ragin’ Cajuns were quick to respond on singles by Brennan Breaux and O’Neal Lochridge to go back in front, 6-4.

Georgia State cut the lead to one run in the seventh inning via a sacrifice fly, but it was as close as the visitors got after a three-run bomb by Lott and RBI singles from Kasuls and Monica led to a five-spot in the eight to give Louisiana an 11-5 edge.

Two Panthers reached in the final frame, but Leger fittingly struck out the final batter looking to clinch the series sweep.