A-State drops to seventh place in conference

Arkansas State baseball (1314) played a three-game series vs. the Cajuns of Louisiana Lafayette over the weekend, picking up a win in the opener, but dropping the final two.

This weekend continued a trend of 1-2 series vs. Sun Belt teams including the series against UT Arlington, Georgia State and Georgia Southern.

Friday night, the Red Wolves held off a Cajun comeback after leading 7-0.

A-State got on the board first after Matt Burgess hit a three run homerun in the third inning to put A-State up 3-0. The home run was Burgess’ third of the year.

A-State upped its lead to 5-0 in the fourth inning, before Joe Schrimpf drove in a run in the sixth to put the Red Wolves on top 6-0.

The Red Wolves scored on a safety squeeze play in the seventh to go up 7-0.

The Cajuns followed by scoring six unanswered runs to cut the lead to one, and nearly tied the game in the ninth until Tony Ortiz made a leaping catch to rob ULL of a home run.

Tanner Ring, who went 1-4 for an RBI in the contest, pitched the final two innings to earn his third save of the season, as Tyler Zuber (3-2) picked up the win.

The Red Wolves were forced to play the comeback role on Saturday night, falling behind 2-1 after one inning. Joe Schrimpf played hero ball, hit

ting a home run in the sixth to tie things up.

However, the Cajuns answered back immediately, hitting a solo home run in the seventh inning to retake the lead.

ULL hit a two-run homer in the eighth to seal the deal as the Red Wolves fell 5-2. Tanner Kirby (0-1) earned his first loss of the season.

Trying to win their first conference series of the season, the Red Wolves played solid defense through the first four innings on Sunday. Cody Jackson allowed only one walk and no hits.

The Cajuns hit a sacrifice bunt to take a lead in the fifth, but the Red Wolves answered as Ty White stole third and scored on a ULL throwing error.

A two-run homer gave the Cajuns an advantage in the sixth, and in the eighth a suicide squeeze would score two more to add to the three-run inning.

The Red Wolves have now led in 21 of their 27 matchups this year, but have won just 13 times. The Red Wolves dropped to 13-14 on the season and 4-8 in the Sun Belt, with a tough series vs. South Alabama next weekend.

“I think it’s a credit to the conference,” Head Coach Tommy Raffo said. “We’re at the halfway point in the season, so every game counts.”

With the losses this weekend, the Red Wolves now sit in seventh place in the Sun Belt Conference standings. A-State is three games off sixth place UT Arlington in the loss column.

Despite losing two this weekend, A-State is now 14th in the nation in double plays after turning three against the Ragin’ Cajuns. A-State turned a 6-4-3=double play on Friday night before turning a 5-4-3 and 4-6-3 double play in series finale on Sunday.

The Red Wolves will now turn their attention to 21-7 (12-0) South Alabama this weekend.

The Jaguars have defeated Little Rock, Georgia and Cincinnati among other teams this season.

South Alabama currently sits atop the conference, with a three game lead over second place Texas State (9-3).

The weekend series will kick off on Friday night in Mobile with the first pitch set for 6:30 p.m. The teams will again play on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. and Sunday at 1:00 p.m.