Box Score

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Fourth-seeded Louisiana jumped out to a 5-0 lead through six innings in a 9-1 win over the fifth-seeded University of South Alabama baseball team Friday in the Sun Belt Conference Championship at Riverwalk Stadium.

Louisiana (34-21) advanced to the SBC Championship semifinal with the win, while South Alabama's season ended with a 31-23 overall record.

GAME FACTS
- Louisiana took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Carson Roccaforte reached on a fielding error by Erick Orbeta on a grounder to second that scored Connor Kimple, who led off the inning with a hit by pitch. Tyler Robertson then reached on an RBI fielder's choice on a grounder to second to score Max Marusak, who reached on a bunt single to first earlier in the inning, for a 2-0 Cajun advantage.
- UL took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single up the middle by Kyle DeBarge, and pushed its lead to 4-0 later in the inning when Heath Hood scored from third when CJ Willis was caught stealing in a 2-6-3 putout.
- The Cajuns took a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI triple to right-center field Hood. 
- Diego Altamirano led off the top of the seventh with a double to right-center field, and scored on an RBI double to left field by Cameron Tissue to cut the Cajun lead to 5-1. 
- Warnner Rincones later scored on a fielding error by Charles Middleton in left field following a single by Connor Kimple for a 6-1 Cajun lead in the bottom of the seventh.
- An RBI double by Kyle DeBarge pushed the UL lead to 7-1 in the bottom of the eighth. Hood followed with an RBI triple to left-center for an 8-1 lead. An RBI single by Julian Brock accounted for the final run of the game.

NOTES
- Hunter Stokes appeared in his 234th career game, which set a new career record at South Alabama. Stokes passed Brett Parker on the program's all-time list.
- USA left 10 runners on base in the game, and finished 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position.
- UL went 7-for-14 with runners in scoring position in the contest.
- Orbeta and Altamirano went 2-for-4 with one double apiece, and Tissue added a double and one RBI.

QUOTES
Head Coach Mark Calvi
- On the loss:
"Obviously not our day today, it wasn't our best game, but Lafayette, they had their hand in that. They did a really nice job, they came out and we made a couple of defensive miscues and they took advantage of it. They pitched really well. They played a complete game and we didn't today. Credit them, they're coached well, they play hard, they were the better team today."

- On starting pitcher Matt Boswell:
"He made a few mistakes over the middle, and they know with synergy and everything, we've faced each other obviously earlier in the year, Boz went a complete game and did it with 70 percent fastballs against them, you knew they were coming in to be ready for the fast ball, I would be too if I was facing us and Bos was on the mound. You gotta be ready for the fastball, it's a good fastball, and he doesn't walk you. Sometimes he throws a few too many strikes and he makes some mistakes out over the plate, and they took advantage of it. We didn't field the ball cleanly there early in the game and they put up a two spot early."

- On the season:
"This team here, I'm really fortunate I had a really good group and I have a lot of respect for them. I can't say with certainty how many teams in this league wouldn't have made this tournament had they had the injuries that we had on the mound. It is what it is. It happens, but the team we started the year with was different, early on. Give our guys credit, we were down both our number one pitchers and some really good bullpen guys. I'd venture to say a bunch of teams in this league wouldn't even have made the conference tournament if that happened to them, much less the five seed. When you look at it, our guys' body of work, they just kept showing up every single day, we had some really tough losses in there and they kept showing up. Some guys got some valuable experience on the mound that probably wouldn't have pitched at all this year. But it is what it is, you look at what you got and you grade them on effort, and our effort was there. Our guys showed up, they went hard all the time. Down to the last weekend we could have moved up to fourth, given all the injuries we had on the mound. Everything's important, but when you lose an All-American from last year and the preseason Pitcher of the Year, and some really good pieces in the pen, it makes things hard. But to our guys' credit, there's no excuses, they just kept playing hard and they gave me their best effort this year. I told them we're not where we want to be, but this program will be back next year."

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

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