Tim Buckley

tbuckley2@theadvertiser.com

SAN MARCOS, Texas – His 41-19 team has won 10 straight. It has won three Sun Belt Conference Tournament titles in a row. And it now is headed to its fourth consecutive NCAA Regional.

No wonder Ragin’ Cajuns coach Tony Robichaux seemed so proud after No. 1 seed UL beat No. 6 seed Georgia Southern 5-0 in the Sun Belt tourney championship game on Sunday at Texas State’s Bobcat Ballpark here.

“This is not an easy thing to do,” said Robichaux, whose Cajuns went through the tourney with another not-so-easy task – getting 48 strikeouts in 36 innings.

“They might have made this thing look easy,” he added, “but this is not very easy to do.”

It did seem that way Sunday thanks in large part to the masterful pitching of sophomore righty Wyatt Marks, who went 7.0 innings with just four hits allowed before handing off to closer Dylan Moore.

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Marks, Moore, reliever Eric Carter and centerfielder Kyle Clement all were named to the All-Tournament Team, which had UL catcher Nick Thurman – who went 5-of-16 with one double, one home run, six RBI and six runs scored – as its Most Outstanding Player.

That crop of Cajuns helped No. 1-ranked UL become the first team in Sun Belt history to win three straight tourney titles.

“If anybody else can do it, hats off to them,” Thurman, who joins second baseman Stefan Trosclair from last season and shortstop Blake Trahan in 2014 as tourney MVPs from UL, said of the accomplishment. “But I think what we did was pretty special, and it’s gonna take some work to top it.”

What Marks did Sunday also was particularly special.

From the last two outs of the third inning through the first two of the sixth, the St. Thomas More product retired 10 in a row.

Marks did allow two men on with one out in the top of the first inning, but he escaped with one of his 10 strikeouts on the day and a groundout.

It helped that his slider was working.

“But I also was pitching off my fastball too,” Marks said, “which opens up the slider.”

“He got out of that jam in the first inning,” Robichaux added, “then from there he really just dominated his opponent and gave us a lot of energy.”

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Even Georgia Southern coach Rodney Hennon was impressed.

"Today out (hitting) approach wasn't good," Hennon said. "Marks had lot to do with that. He did a nice job of mixing his pitches. We had a hard time laying off his breaking balls and changeup, a lot of the off-speed stuff that we chased out of the zone at times."

The first inning was when Thurman knew Marks was going to be on.

“Whenever he got out of that jam, the first jam he was in, whenever he can get out of that with his slider, and once he’s pitching off his fastball,” Thurman said, “it just opens up so much more depth and perception to that slider.

“His arm speed, his motion, is so good on that,” the Cajun catcher added, “he was able to just fool most of the hitters.”

With Marks getting out of the mini-mess in the first, UL went scoreless with Georgia Southern for four-and-a-half innings.

Cajun bats came alive in the fifth, though.

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After Thurman struck out but reached on a wild pitch from Georgia Southern starter Evan Challenger, who was working after throwing 111 pitches Wednesday, then moved to second on Hunter Kasuls’ sacrifice bunt, Brian Mills broke the tie with a double that scored Thurman.

The run marked the first time in the tournament Georgia Southern, which shut out its prior two opponents, had trailed.

But UL wasn’t done, as Joe Robbins drove in Mills to make it 2-0.

After the first Georgia Southern didn’t really threaten again until the seventh, when the Cajuns escaped a first-and-third situation.

Marks got the first out, making a heady play with the throw to first when he realized he didn’t have a chance to get the lead runner.

With runners on the corners, CJ Ballard was caught trying to steal.

Thurman made the throw to Trosclair at second, and Trosclair made the tag in a rundown without the runner from third being able to score.

Marks then struck out Kent Rollins to end the half-inning with UL’s lead intact at 2-0.

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“The big thing … was being able to get to DMo (Moore) with six outs,” Robichaux said.

“At that point we were up, so just getting an out was a big thing,” Thurman added with reference to the slow-developing caught-stealing play. “And Trosclair did a great job of holding onto the ball, making sure that if the guy from third did take off that he was gonna be able to get him out at home.”

The Cajuns tacked on one more run in the bottom of the seventh, when Clement’s bases-loaded sac fly scored Hunter Kasuls, and another two in the eighth, when pinch-runner Jam Williams scored on a wild pitch after Brenn Conrad originally reached with a single and Thurman added a solo homer.

UL advanced to Sunday’s title game by beating No. 8 seed Arkansas State 7-4 on Wednesday night, host No. 5 seed Texas State 4-2 on Friday and Arkansas State 17-10 again on Saturday.

The Cajuns learned also Sunday night it will host one of 16 NCAA Regional tournaments.

“What you’ve got to hope for is you’ve got to keep this going now, because this is not it for us,” Robichaux said. “This is pieces of the puzzle along the way, and the field’s gonna get salty now.”

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