Cajun Baseball clinches share of the SBC Title with 9-2 win over Georgia Southern

STATESBORO, Ga. – Jose Torres’ RBI double in the fifth inning snapped a 1-1 tie and No. 22-ranked Louisiana scored runs in five straight innings to claim a 9-2 win over Georgia Southern and clinch a share of the Sun Belt Conference regular-season title on Sunday at J.I. Clements Stadium.

Carson Fluno (3-0) pitched 6.0 solid innings on the mound, striking out five batters and scattering three hits, as Louisiana (38-15, 21-6 SBC) maintained a three-game lead Southern Miss heading into the final week of the regular season.

The win clinched the No. 1 seed for the Ragin’ Cajuns in the upcoming Sun Belt Conference Championships scheduled for May 21-25 in Montgomery, Ala., after Texas State defeated Troy, 8-6, in 11 innings.

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Louisiana will wrap up the regular season beginning Thursday when it plays host to South Alabama in a three-game series at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field at Russo Park. First pitch for Thursday’s opener is set for 6 p.m.

Georgia Southern (27-24, 15-12 SBC) took an early 1-0 lead in the third inning when Sean Smith hit a solo homer to left field off Fluno.

Louisiana tied the game in the top of the fourth on Duncan Pastore’s solo homer to left off Eagles starter Ga’von Wray before Torres ripped a double to left to drive in Ben Robichaux. The Ragin’ Cajuns added a pair of unearned runs to take a 4-1 lead as Kyle DeBarge scored on Caleb Stelly’s grounder before Robichaux singled to center to drive in John Taylor.

DeBarge, who went 2-for-5, added an RBI double in a three-run seventh inning for Louisiana before Taylor’s squeeze bunt plated a pair of runs for a 7-1 advantage.

LaFleur added an RBI double in the eighth for the Ragin’ Cajuns before Luke Yuhasz’s pinch-hit single to right brought in LaFleur.

David Christie pitched the final 3.0 innings to earn his fourth save of the season, scattering a pair of hits and fanning three. DeBarge, Robichaux and Torres had two hits each for Louisiana, which recorded 10 hits and stranded six. The Ragin’ Cajuns turned a pair of double plays in the contest.

Wray took the loss for Georgia Southern after giving up a pair of runs and scattering four hits in 4.1 innings. Sean White went 2-for-4 to lead the Eagles while Jarrett Brown and Cade Parker each recorded base hits.