Junior shortstop ties single-season, school record with his 19th home run

STATESBORO, Ga. – Junior shortstop Kyle DeBarge etched his name into the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns Baseball record book with his 19th home run of the season before his two-out, RBI single in the top of the ninth broke a 4-4 deadlock and led No. 22 Louisiana to a 6-4 win against Georgia Southern on Saturday at J.I. Clements Stadium.

Ben Robichaux and Jose Torres each drove in runs as Louisiana (37-15, 20-6 SBC) maintained its three-game lead over Troy and Southern Miss in the Sun Belt Conference standings with four league games remaining.

The final game of the three-game series will start on Sunday at noon CDT. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ with fans able to listen to the game in the Lafayette area on KPEL-FM (96.5) and worldwide on the Varsity Network app.

DeBarge hit a solo home run in the third inning off Georgia Southern starter Ty Fisher for his 19th home run of the season, giving Louisiana a 3-0 lead and tying him with David King (1989) and David Alvis (1985) for the most in the school’s rich baseball history.

His game-winning heroics in the ninth came Bryan Broussard, Jr., reached on a one-out single to chase Georgia Southern reliever Mitchell Gross (2-4) before Conor Higgs drew a two-out walk off southpaw Jacob Phillips.

DeBarge then lifted a 1-and-1 pitch from Phillips into right field for his second hit of the day and allowing Broussard to score from second ahead of a throw by right-fielder Sam Blancato. The Ragin’ Cajuns would add an insurance run when Higgs scored from third after a Phillips wild pitch.

Louisiana took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Taylor reached on a leadoff single and moved to second on a walk to Caleb Stelly. Ben Robichaux, whose first hit of the season was a grand slam in Friday’s 19-3 win, then singled up the middle to drive in Taylor before Stelly would score from third on Torres’ sacrifice bunt up the first-base line.

Taylor gave Louisiana a 4-0 lead in the third when he reached on an error, moved to third on Stelly’s single up the middle and scored on a wild pitch.

Georgia Southern chipped away at the lead scoring three runs in the sixth inning after Sean Smith’s double to center drove in Blancato and Jarrett Brown. TJ McKenzie would drive in Sean White with a sacrifice fly to right before Louisiana reliever Blake McGehee fanned Cade Parker to end the threat.

Blancato, who went 3-for-4 to lead Georgia Southern at the plate then tied the game in the seventh when his two-out, solo homer to right cleared the wall in right.

JT Etheridge (3-2) earned the win for Louisiana after pitching 1.2 innings of no-hit relief with three strikeouts. The senior right-hander relieved McGehee in the eighth after Smith singled and moved up on an error before getting thrown out at third trying to advance on a wild pitch.

Etheridge would then end the inning striking out McKenzie before retiring three straight batters in the ninth after issuing a leadoff walk to Parker.

Chase Morgan struck out nine batters and scattered four hits in 5.0 scoreless innings for Louisiana. McGehee, the third of four pitchers used by the Ragin’ Cajuns, struck out two and allowed a run in 2.0 innings of relief.

DeBarge and Taylor had two hits each for Louisiana, which held a 9-8 advantage at the plate and stranded nine runners, while Trey LaFleur went 1-for-5 with double while Duncan Pastore added an eighth-inning single to extend his hit streak to a team-high nine games.

Single-game tickets are available by visiting the Louisiana Athletics Box Office at the Cajundome or purchasing by visiting Account Manager. For more information call the Louisiana Athletics Box Office at the Cajundome at (337) 265-2104.

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