Perhaps UL’s 14-13 series-salvaging road victory over Troy was more exhausting for the team’s fans than for the staff and players.
Coach Matt Deggs wasn’t dragging at all on Monday.
How was the ride back home?
“Great,” said Deggs, whose Cajuns take on Jackson State at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Russo Park in the final midweek game of the season. “Everybody was busy playing Mafia and being themselves.”
The relief of avoiding a sweep was real.
“Anytime you can get a win in the midst of the struggle that we were in, that’s gigantic,” Deggs said. “To walk out of there with a two-game lead in the league is about as good as you can ask for, especially after the first two games over there.”
Needing all 14 runs and 19 hits to get that victory didn’t seem to wipe out Deggs, either.
“l like to hit,” Deggs said. “I like it when we hit. When you hit, everybody has fun. When you hit, people say, ‘Man, y’all are tough. Y’all play with a lot of energy.’ When you don’t hit, ‘Man, y’all aren't very competitive,’ … but it’s the same dudes.
“Hitting is fun.”
Despite Troy outscoring the Cajuns by 14 runs in the series, UL hit more homers (7-6) than the Trojans, had more doubles (13-8) and had a higher slugging percentage (.639-.608).
“The top four in our order yesterday really answered the bell for us,” Deggs said. “That’s pretty cool when 1-2-3-4 have a jack and double and have such a big impact on the game.”
The top four batters — Trey LaFleur, Conor Higgs, Kyle DeBarge and John Taylor — combined to hit .434 with four doubles, four homers and 10 RBIs in the game.
It almost wasn’t enough.
Trailing 11-4 going into the bottom of the eighth, Troy scored two in the eighth and then six in the ninth to force extra innings.
The Cajuns responded as Higgs homered, DeBarge doubled and Taylor doubled to provide the winning margin.
“The guts and resolve our guys showed on Sunday, I don’t know that I’ve seen a team — and we’ve had some good ones — show that type of mental toughness,” Deggs said. “Aw man, that was an absolute gut punch — nobody flinched, no finger-pointing.”
As for the pitching moving forward, Deggs said don't expect major changes, despite the 12.00 team ERA for the series.
Blake McGehee started Sunday’s game and was mostly effective over 4⅓ innings.
“I thought he was really good for us,” Deggs said. “The decision was sinker guy who is going to keep the ball on the ground and fill up the strike zone. He certainly did that.
“He gave up hits, which I’m fine with especially to a team as hot as they are and as good as they are — you’re going to give up hits — but then to get it back on the carpet for two big double plays, that was gigantic. He certainly gave us a chance to win that ball game.”
It’s also not out of the question that Chase Morgan could pitch the first game at Georgia Southern this weekend and Andrew Herrmann the middle game, but the overall game plan won’t change.
While LP Langevin wasn’t able to close out the second game at Troy, the staff won’t hesitate to use him for three or four innings to win either of the first two games against Georgia Southern.
“You can tinker a little bit,” Deggs said. “Like, we had to get (Sunday)’s game, so I thought the matchup was better with McGehee, so you could see some things like that.
“But we’re going to have to go with the hottest guy out of the bullpen. Obviously, the bell cow is LP (Langevin). We’ll continue to work that formula.”
In the bottom of the 10th on Sunday, Deggs elected to intentionally walk the potential winning run (the guy who hit the game-tying grand slam in the ninth), but he said that wasn’t his toughest decision of the weekend. He said the most difficult move was to pull Morgan for Langevin with the bases loaded and two outs in the fifth with a lead on Saturday. Langevin allowed all three inherited runners to score.
“We had a lead and it matched where we wanted to be, so I went ahead and went with LP, but I almost left C-Mo in there,” Deggs said. “I would have been sick if it would have got him. It didn’t work out, but that formula has worked out great for us all year.”
