It wasn't technically a doubleheader, but the UL Ragin鈥 Cajuns celebrated two wins Saturday at Russo Park.
First, the Cajuns finished off Friday鈥檚 suspended game for a 4-1 win over Georgia Southern, then pulled off a 7-3 win over the Eagles in the regularly scheduled game.
鈥淲e鈥檙e playing pretty good,鈥 UL coach Matt Deggs said. 鈥淚鈥檓 not saying a whole lot right now. I鈥檓 just kind of letting them play. We鈥檝e kind of been through the meat grinder. This series is important, though. We haven鈥檛 done anything yet. We need to come out and take care of business tomorrow.鈥
The Cajuns improved to 22-23 overall and 12-8 in Sun Belt play while Georgia Southern dropped to 23-20 and 9-11. The final game of the series is slated for noon Sunday.
Friday鈥檚 series opener was suspended at 8:36 p.m. Friday after multiple lightning delays and later rain. It resumed at 1:05 p.m. Saturday and took 40 minutes for the Cajuns to nail down the victory.
Luke Yuhasz played a key role in both Cajuns鈥 wins.
鈥淗e鈥檚 looking good,鈥 Deggs said of Yuhasz. 鈥淗e鈥檚 not over swinging.鈥
In the first game, he singled home the first run in the first inning and contributed an RBI triple in the eighth. Yuhasz came home on a Conor Higgs' sacrifice fly for the three-run lead.
Then in the second game, Yuhasz sparked UL鈥檚 four-run first inning with an RBI double before later scoring on a Higgs' double.
Yuhasz was a combined 4 for 8 with three RBIs.
鈥淚鈥檓 just trusting the work I鈥檝e put in and sticking to my approach,鈥 he said. 鈥淵ou just have to trust it. Right now, my approach is hitting the fastball to right-center on a line and adjusting to everything else. It鈥檚 been working out for me.
鈥淲e started off a little slower than we would have liked, but we鈥檙e starting to click on offense. Even if everyone鈥檚 not having a good game, we鈥檙e starting to pick each other up. If someone has a bad at-bat, we won鈥檛 let it be two in a row.鈥
Maddox Mandino鈥檚 double and Drew Markle鈥檚 base hit got the big inning started. Caleb Stelly鈥檚 RBI double gave UL an insurance run in the fourth. Higgs smashed a two-run homer 鈥 his 14th of the season 鈥 in the sixth to put the Cajuns on easy street.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 have a really good at-bat against that guy the at-bat before,鈥 Higgs said of his homer. 鈥淚 was kind of late. I got in the dugout and I got to think about getting my work done a little bit 鈥 just staying early and balanced. I got a walk the next at-bat and saw him a lot better. I figured he鈥檇 be coming back with that curve ball at some point, and I got it and I was on time for it.鈥
Higgs was 2 for 4 with four RBIs in the second game.
UL elected to start the suspended game Saturday with Andrew Herrmann, who was expected to start the second game.
鈥淚 like our lefties against those guys,鈥 Deggs said of the strategy. 鈥淚 knew we could get more mileage out of Herrmann upfront if we caught a wave. We never really caught that wave. It was kind of a grind, but still to go almost six innings, that鈥檚 pretty good.鈥
Herrman had trouble in the seventh 鈥 giving up a solo homer to Daniel Haab and two singles 鈥 but limited the Eagles to one run. He allowed only a two-out double to Haab in the ninth the rest of the way to nail down his second save of the season.
Chase Morgan pitched the first six innings Friday for his second quality outing of the season, giving up two hits, two walks and striking out five in six innings.
In the second game Saturday, Herrmann lasted 2鈪 innings and 57 pitches before giving way to Tate Hess for 4鈪 innings.
鈥淚 thought Herrmann, heroic effort again,鈥 Deggs said. 鈥淵ou can always count on him to do crazy stuff. I thought Tate Hess really won us that game. He came in and put it on ice for a while.鈥
Hess got the win after surrendering two runs on four hits, one walk and striking out three over 53 pitches.
鈥淭oday was the hottest weather I鈥檝e pitched in so far this season," Hess said. "We knew coming in they鈥檙e not going to strike out. They鈥檙e really good with the balls in the zone, so our plan was to attack the zone and let the defense work. Towards the end, they saw us for the second, maybe third time through.鈥
Dylan Theut relieved him for one inning and then Matthew Holzhammer got the final two outs with the bases loaded to nail down the win for his fourth save.
