Official Box Score
LAFAYETTE, La. -- Louisiana-Lafayette senior Brent Solich limited South Alabama to just four hits, while registering a career-high 12 strikeouts, as the Ragin' Cajuns sent the Jaguars to the losers' bracket of the Sun Belt Conference Championship with an 8-1 victory Friday morning at Tigue Moore field. USA now faces New Orleans, the team it beat 14-2 on Wednesday, at 5 p.m. today in an elimination game.
The Jaguars (32-25) jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Ryne Jernigan tripled in David Doss, who had walked, but the Cajuns scored two runs in the second to take the lead. Starter Lance Baxter (4-5) walked the leadoff hitter to start the inning, but struck out the next two batters. After a stolen base, three straight singles made the score 2-1.
ULL (30-27) broke the game open in the fifth. Back-to-back one-out doubles put ULL up 3-1, then a hit-batter and walk loaded the bases. Chance Harst brought everyone home when he hit the first pitch just inside the left-field foul pole for the Cajuns' third grand slam in 14 days.
That was more than enough for Solich, who defeated USA for the second time in the last two Sun Belt Conference Championships. He walked just two to complement a three-hit, 11-strikeout effort in Mobile a year ago.
"(Solich) was just pitching out the there," Head Coach Steve Kittrell said. "He was a real bulldog, but the six-run inning killed us. I was hoping that we could keep it to 3-1 so we would still be in the game. Their pitching is too good to fall behind 8-1."
Clint Toomey had two of USA's four hits, three of which never left the infield. Ryan Bohanan also had a hit for the Jaguars.
