Box Score (PDF)

LAFAYETTE, La. – University of South Alabama left-hander Thomas Huston combined with right-hander Matt Peacock to shut out No. 21 Louisiana-Lafayette 6-0 Saturday at Russo Park.

Huston (3-1) allowed just three hits and recorded six strikeouts against two walks in seven innings to earn his third win of the season. Peacock struck out two and issued one walk in two innings pitched. Cajun right-hander Nick Lee (4-3) allowed four runs on six hits with three strikeouts and four walks in four innings pitched in the loss.

"I just changed velocity," Huston said. "I threw a lot of changeups in fastball counts and got them (ULL) out on their front foot, and my defense was making plays for me. I knew they could swing it well. I just wanted to keep the ball low and get a lot of ground balls and let my defense help me out tonight."

"Thomas was very good," USA head coach Mark Calvi said. "He had some traffic; he had a couple of guys on base and had a couple of walks in there and had to pitch through a little bit of a jam. But I thought Thomas was outstanding tonight. He has been great for us all year long – he's a bulldog. That's a game that you want that kid to go finish, but he finished up the seventh (inning) with 105 pitches. Maybe if that is through eight then I give him 115 (pitches) to see if he can do it, but we had a fresh Matt Peacock down there (in the bullpen). When a kid gives you that kind of effort, you want your best guy behind him to go ahead and seal it up. I was really proud of both pitchers tonight, but Thomas Huston was fantastic especially after a night where we got sand kicked in our face and embarrassed in front of 4,000 people. We played great defense behind him. That's the kind of outing we have been accustomed to seeing out of him this year. It was just a great effort on his and Matt Peacock's part."

South Alabama (16-11, 6-2 SBC) broke a scoreless tie in the top of the second inning. Eddie Paparella drew a leadoff walk, and later scored on a one-out double to the right-center field gap by Will Luft for a 1-0 Jaguar lead. Jared Barnes then drew a two-out walk before Dylan Hardy doubled down the left field line to put two runners in scoring position. Drew LaBounty followed with a walk to load the bases for Brendan Donovan, but ULL right-hander Nick Lee induced an inning-ending lineout to center field to escape the jam.

LaBounty doubled the USA lead in the top of the fifth inning with a leadoff solo home run to left field, his second of the season, for a 2-0 advantage. Donovan followed with a walk before Travis Swaggerty doubled to left field to put two runners in scoring position with no outs. Wells Davis delivered a sacrifice fly to right field to plate Donovan and extend the USA lead to 3-0. Paparella followed with a sacrifice fly to left field to score Swaggerty for a 4-0 Jaguar advantage.

USA added its final runs in the top of the ninth. Barnes reached on a hit by pitch to lead off the inning, and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Hardy in which he reached base safely on a fielding error by ULL right-hander Evan Guillory. A sacrifice bunt by LaBounty moved both runners into scoring position with one out. Donovan followed with a one-out, two-run single to left-center field to score Barnes and Hardy for a 6-0 advantage.

"We got our sacrifice bunts down and moved guys along," Calvi said. "Nick Lee was a Freshman All-American last year; that kid is outstanding. We hit him around a little bit and that's what we had to do. We felt like we had to score some runs, but we felt great with Thomas on the mound. I was proud of our effort."

Seven Jaguar starters hit safely in the game, led by LaBounty who went 2-for-3 with a home run, one RBI and one run scored. Hardy finished 2-for-3, while Luft added a double and an RBI and Donovan added a hit, two RBI and one run scored.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with USAJaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at Twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

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