Louisiana's Ragin' Cajun baseball team established itself as one of the most potent hitting teams in the nation this season. However, the bats couldn't best the Sam Houston State Bearkats Friday night in the opening round of the Baton Rouge regional.

With Cody Dickson and Alan Scott pitching lights out for Sam Houston State, Louisiana could only manage 4 hits, compared to 9 for the Bearkats. The lack of offense costs the Cajuns as they fell by the score of 4-2.

"First of all, I thought both of their pitchers threw really well,” head coach Tony Robichaux said. “We just couldn’t really get on top of the ball throughout the night."

Louisiana had only been held to 4 hits one other time this season, a 6-4 loss to Houston back on April 30th.

Dex Kjerstad was responsible for half the Cajun hits, giving him a multiple hit game for the eighth time in nine contests.

Michael Strentz and Blake Trahan finished with one hit apiece.

Louisiana threw three arms, with Ryan Wilson getting the start. Wilson pitched 5.2 innings, allowing two runs, one earned. Matt Hicks pitched 1.2 innings of relief, giving up two earn runs in the top of the 7th that broke a 2-2 tie. Kendall Mayer finished the game with 2.1 innings of solid relief, but the Cajuns just couldn't get the critical hit late.

With the loss, Louisiana falls into the losers bracket. They will face off with the Jackson State Tigers out of the SWAC tomorrow at 2:00.

Austin Robichaux, Louisiana's ace, was held out Friday night to pitch in a potential winner's bracket matchup with LSU. With UL falling in the loser's bracket, head coach Tony Robichaux addressed his pitching situation moving forward.

“We will probably go with Austin tomorrow,” Robichaux said. “We will come out and get after it and get ourselves back in this thing.  This was not going to be an easy regional anyway.  You are playing one of the better teams in the country in one of the toughest venues in the country.”

Pregame begins tomorrow at 1:30. You can hear all the action on our sister station, News Talk 96.5 KPEL. The game will also be streamed live on kpel965.com, and radio pup.

For more broadcast info on the Baton Rouge regional, click here.

For up to date scores and schedules from all 16 NCAA baseball regionals, click here.

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