Record-breaking day for La.-Lafayette

LAFAYETTE, La. — Pitcher Jordan Wallace broke an NCAA record for a freshman with her 21st consecutive win to begin her career, and Christi Orgeron tied the single-season grand slam record with her sixth of the season as the seventh-ranked Cajuns swept a twinbill against Florida Atlantic 21-0 and 10-2 on Saturday afternoon at Lamson Park.

Wallace (21-0) kept her unblemished record by hurling her second one-hitter of the season, fanning seven and allowing two runs. She broke the record of 20 wins, previously held by Amanda Scarbrough of Texas A&M in 2005.

“Just a little extra recognition. It is nothing that I was striving for or thinking about. We just did what we usually do and came out and got a couple of wins,” Wallace said.

Orgeron launched her NCAA-tying grand slam in a eight-run third inning for the Cajuns, giving her nine slams in her career. She finished the doubleheader 3-for-5, with two homers, four runs scored and eight RBIs. On the season, the senior has 17 long balls and leads the nation with 81 RBIs. Orgeron recorded the third highest RBI total in a season in NCAA history — with 101 — in 2011 and sits sixth all-time with 275 — 18 behind fifth place.

The Ragin’ Cajuns (40-2, 15-2) received other offensive help from Nerissa Myers who launched her third grand slam of the year, on the way to a 4-for-7 performance with five runs scored and 10 RBIs on the day.

Myers blast came in a season-high 13-run second inning in game one and is Louisiana’s 10th grand slam as a team this season.

Natalie Fernandez went 3-for-4 in the twinbill and tied a career-high with three runs in game one to go along with three RBIs. Katie Smith recorded two hits in both games, giving her a team-high 20 multi-hit games on the year. Sarah Draheim hit a three-run blast in game two and Brianna Cherry had a solo-shot as well to round out the Cajuns top offensive performers.

“Obviously it’s been tough last two to three weeks trying to find consistency in our lineup,” co-head coach Michael Lotief said. “We knew our offense was going to get going again. We got a couple breaks on errors by the defense and built momentum on it.”

When asked about Wallace’s record Lotief said, “It’s hard enough to play this game pitch-by-pitch. She is so young but her thinking is that of a warrior.”

Ashley Brignac (16-2) was credited with the game-one victory, throwing three scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out four FAU (13-31, 3-12) hitters. The senior is now just four strikeouts shy of 800 in her career and sits fourth all-time in school history, trailing Kim Esinaugle (1983-86) by 16.

UL broke the game open by piling on 13 runs in the second inning and eight more in the third as the Cajuns tied a season-high with 21 runs scored. Louisiana tallied 14 hits in the game and Shelbee Rodgers came in for two scoreless innings of relief for Brignac, whiffing four, to secure the win for the Ragin’ Cajuns.

Game two was knotted at zero through the first two and a half innings before UL posted five runs in the bottom of the third as Draheim and Cherry hit back-to-back shots to left field.

The Owls answered with two in the fourth as Jordan Stovall hit her third homer of the season, scoring Taylor Fawbush, who was aboard after drawing a walk to lead off the inning.

UL scored four more runs in the bottom of the frame as Myers drove in a pair with a double to the left-center gap and Orgeron plated her with her second blast of the day for a 9-2 advantage.

Myers drove in the game-winning run in the bottom of the fifth, with a single up the middle that scored Erikka Murphy