Marshall Thundering Herd vs. Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns - Sun Belt Conference Tournament Game 1

There is nothing like conference tournament season, especially for schools that have everything to gain and nothing to lose. On the first day of Sun Belt Conference Tournament action in Montgomery, AL the Marshall Thundering Herd and Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns found themselves in that position. As they entered DABOS Park they both had one task ahead of them: win or go home. With a single elimination win needed in order to get to double elimination play, Marshall and Louisiana both came in with no real chance of making a regional without winning it all by the end of conference tournament weekend.

Louisiana came in as the highest seeded of the play-in teams, and immediately made it clear why with a 3 run first inning off the bats of Lee Amedee, Colt Brown, and Drew Markle. The hot bat magic continued in the third, as Owen Galt and Mark Collins drove in another three runs to give the Cajuns a 6-1 lead. The first Louisiana homer came off the bat of freshman Noah Lewis, his second of the season that gave them a 9-1 lead. Ultimately, it was Colt Brown who called ball game in the bottom of the 7th when he made the score 11-1 in favor of Louisiana.

Marshall’s offense struggled at the plate, but managed to get one across in the first off of a Jackson Halter single and an error by the Ragin’ Cajuns. That was the only run of the game for the Thundering Herd, who ended the game with only three hits.

After the game, Louisiana head coach Matt Deggs said, "Future's definitely bright with these guys [...] it's fun to watch."

Marshall head coach Greg Beals was asked about the level play around the conference post-game. "[The Sun Belt] is tough, it's tough top to bottom. Every weekend in our conference, our opponent is good enough to beat you, and we're good enough to beat them. The expectation is to be here [in Montgomery]. We've got a lot of work to do to continue climbing the ladder, it's a tough ladder to climb, but we're going to do the work."

The winning Ragin' Cajuns will go on to play 2-seed Coastal Carolina in the second game on Wednesday; first pitch is scheduled for 12:30p CT.