Coach’s gamble pays off as Louisiana-Lafayette beats top seed

TROY — Tony Robichaux’s gamble paid off.

The UL-Lafayette head coach elected to put the go-ahead run on base in the form of Middle Tennessee’s Bryce Brentz, one of the nation’s top hitters and the Sun Belt Player of the Year. Brentz walked to load the bases in the top of the ninth with one out, but ULL closer Luke Wagley got Blake McDade to hit a deep sacrifice fly and Ben Darlington to hit into a fielder’s choice, preserving a 5-4 win.

ULL (27-28-1) advances to the bracket finals and will play at 4 p.m. against the winner of the 9 a.m. game between Florida Atlantic and MTSU (39-16), the No. 1 seed.

Brentz, who has 27 homers this year, went 3-for-4 to raise his average to .490, but didn’t get a chance to win the game for his team.

“That guy’s too good,” Robichaux said. “It’s not like the big leagues where I can get a guy making 30 million dollars to get a guy out. I wasn’t going to let him
beat us.”

McDade’s sac fly scored a run and put runners on the corners, but Darlington, a pinch-hitter, hit a grounder to Greg Fontenot at short. Fontenot went deep in
the hole to catch it, fell on his rear, and fired a shot to Kyle Bostick at second to force Brentz out in a close play.

“I saw the ball had a lot of top spin on it so I got an angle on the ball,” Fontenot said. “The ball knocked me over, but I was able to make the play.”

The surprising Ragin’ Cajuns, the fifth seed in the tournament, now must be beaten twice for them not to make it to the tournament’s championship game. After
last weekend’s sweep of New Orleans and a dominating first-round win over FIU, the Cajuns are now the league’s hottest team.

“We’re finally coming together as a team,” Fontenot said. “We’re getting timely hits and our pitching and defense is doing great. We’re finally jelling together at
the right time.”

Starter Justin Robichaux went seven innings to get the win, scattering nine hits but giving up just one run. He struck out three, but MTSU hit into four double
plays.

“He and our No. 1 Zach Osborne (who got the win Wednesday over FIU) they’re both sinkerballers,” Tony Robichaux said. “We live with the ball on the ground,
and we had great defense behind them.”

Les Smith hit a solo homer in the first off MTSU starter Justin Guidry. The lead became 2-0 on the third on Alex Fuselier’s RBI single. MTSU cut the lead to 2-1
in the fourth on McDade’s RBI double.

ULL extended its lead in the fifth after a mistake by Guidry. Fusilier bunted a liner back to Guidry, who caught it and had Matt Goulas doubled off first. But
Guidry threw the ball away, and Goulas took second.

Instead of having two outs and the bases empty, ULL started a rally and scored two runs — one off a single from Scott Hawkins and another on Fontenot’s sac
fly.

Bostick’s double to center in the seventh off the glove of MTSU second baseman Taylor Dennis scored the Cajuns’ fifth run.

In the eighth, Brentz hit an RBI double and ULL walked in a run, but with the bases loaded, Dennis hit into a double play to keep the score 5-3.

Fuselier, Hawkins and Bostick had two hits each for ULL. Brentz, Nathan Hines and Tyler Burnett had three hits each for MTSU. The Blue Raiders outhit ULL
13-7 but left 11 runners on base.