Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns vs Coastal Carolina Chanticleers - Sun Belt Conference Tournament Game 4

Sometimes games go exactly how you expect. Other times, you see games like what happened in Game 4 of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, as late inning runs almost pushed Coastal Carolina into the win column.

Louisiana started off the first inning hot, scoring their first run off a Drew Markle sac fly. The hot bats continued for the Cajuns in the third, with a five-run inning off the bats of Markle, Colt Brown, and Steven Spalitta. Brown also brought in a run in the top of the 4th, giving Louisiana a seven run lead heading into Coastal’s half of the fifth.

The Coastal Carolina bats finally got hot in the fifth, with Blagen Pado and Walker Mitchell homering to left to bring in four runs for the Chanticleers. Pado stayed hot, homering in the sixth to tie the game for Coastal.

Mark Collins drove in a run in the top of the seventh for the Ragin’ Cajuns, which was almost immediately followed by a weather delay due to lightning around Montgomery. As we moved to the eighth, Brown brought in a run on a single through the left side of the infield, with Donovan LaSalle bringing in another run to make the score 12-7 in favor of the Ragin’ Cajuns.

The ninth inning saw Coastal Carolina make a push to win the game in the bottom of the ninth, scoring four runs off the bats of Blake Barthol, Rex Watson, and Trace Mazon. With a runner on third, Louisiana managed to close the door and take the 12-11 win over the Chanticleers.

Coastal Carolina head coach Kevin Schnall talked about the strength within the Sun Belt. “Winning baseball games is not easy. [...] I want to compliment our team, to be down seven to nothing after four innings, and then tie it up in the sixth, and then obviously we’re 90 feet away from tying it up there again in the ninth. Again, tip your hat to [Louisiana], their pitchers made some big pitches there when they needed to and they got a good win.”

After the game, Louisiana head coach Matt Deggs complimented the Freshman class, who have produced much needed hits in both games so far in the tournament; Freshman Colt Brown brought in runs in three separate innings. “That freshman class is super talented. I think they love each other. I think they love playing together.”

Louisiana will enter the winner’s bracket and play Texas State on Thursday at 4pm CT; Coastal Carolina will play Appalachian State in the first elimination game at 9am CT.