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Jul 11, 2023

UL Cajuns: Meet UL's new legendary performer after key sweep

Sports Editor UL southpaw reliever Blake Marshall was the hero of the day for the Cajuns in their sweep of Coastal Carolina to reach the Sun Belt Tournament finals for the second straight season. The

Sports Editor

UL southpaw reliever Blake Marshall was the hero of the day for the Cajuns in their sweep of Coastal Carolina to reach the Sun Belt Tournament finals for the second straight season.

The UL Ragin’ Cajuns were in need of a hero Saturday and they found one in junior left-hander Blake Marshall.

Marshall silenced any critics during Saturday’s two games at the Sun Belt Conference Tournament in Montgomery, Alabama.

The Cajuns rode Marshall’s gutsy performance to wins of 7-3 and then 4-1 over the No. 7-ranked Coastal Carolina to keep their hopes of repeating as Sun Belt champions alive.

“We live by two words in our program and that’s uncommon savages; to be uncommon in everything we do,” UL coach Matt Deggs said of Marshall’s day. “I’ve been doing this 28 years and that’s as big of a savage outing as I’ve ever seen.”

The Cajuns captured their 40th win of the season with the sweep of the Chanticleers and will now play Southern Miss at 1 p.m. Sunday for the tournament championship.

“He’s in legendary status in Lafayette, I guarantee you that,” Deggs said. “That’s as gutsy as I’ve seen and I couldn’t be more proud of him.”

Marshall’s big day began with four shutout innings and 63 pitches to get a save in the Cajuns’ 7-3 elimination-game win over Coastal.

As encouraging as that win was for the UL faithful, many were still wondering exactly who would pitch the second game of the day against the Chanticleers’ feared lineup.

Wednesday’s starter Jackson Nezuh started the game and went three innings, allowing one run on two hits, one walk and striking out two.

Not only did Marshall come back, but he pitched 5 1/3 shutout innings and only gave up two hits, three walks and struck out five to get the win.

“We were totally mesmerized by him all day long,” Coastal coach Gary Gilmore said. “For a young man to be able to throw that many pitches and compete that much, what an incredible thing. I’ve coached for 38 years and I honestly don’t know if I’ve ever seen anybody do that against a team of mine. I tip my hat to him.

“We haven’t hit that young man all year long. We’ve faced him three times now and he’s bested us all three times.”

Marshall left the game with runners on the corners with one out for JT Etheridge, who also pitched twice Saturday. After two perfect innings with four strikeouts in the first game, the right-hander coaxed a line out and a ground out to shut the door for the save.

“They flat out outplayed us," Gilmore said. "It’s as simple as that. I don’t the answer to it. We had the opportunity in between games to figure some things out.”

Marshall missed all of last season with an injury. After a hot start to this season as the staff’s closer, he “pretty much hit rock bottom” in the middle of the season, but was there when his team really needed him.

“Today is his redemption story,” Deggs said. “That’s a testament to staying the course and never quitting.”

For Marshall, it was just about being there when his teammates needed him.

“I was just thinking about my boys, just keep going, never give up,” he said. “It’s just always be ready, always be ready to go no matter what happens. It’s doing it for my boys. That’s really what it is.”

Throwing 147 pitches against one of the nation’s top hitting teams brought back memories of Jacob Schultz’s 142-pitch game to beat Texas State in the Sun Belt Tournament a year ago.

“It was very similar, except Schultz did it all in one setting,” Deggs said. “Schultz had been a rock all year. This is a comeback story. This is a scrappy redemption story. This is all about a young man that realized tonight and today how good he is.

“He captured the moment and that’s what a lot of people don’t do. He was ready for the moment. We tell them all the time, the greatest thing in your life can happen, just make sure you’re ready.”

Of course, it wouldn’t have mattered how well Marshall pitched if UL’s offense couldn’t score at least two runs.

Carson Roccaforte homered in the first inning for one run, before the Cajuns took the lead for good with a run in the third when Kyle DeBarge’s sacrifice fly scored Will Veillon after he doubled.

John Taylor then provided two insurance runs in the sixth on a two-run single that looked more like a double off the wall, but Taylor missed first base and had to go back.

“As far as the team is concerned, I don’t think we ever flinched or wavered,” Deggs said. “We showed up with expectation. You can hope or you can expect and we showed up expecting today.

“It was just great baseball all the way around. We did enough offensively. They pitched us tough. They’re a top 10 team for a reason over there.”

With the two wins over Coastal, UL’s RPI leaped to 46. To Deggs, that should be a regional berth no matter what happens in Sunday’s championship game.

“This team that we have is a regional team,” Deggs said. “We’ve had our ups and we’ve had our downs. Win, lose or draw tomorrow, this is a regional team.

“They’re a team that can capture a lot of hearts and minds.”

Email Kevin Foote at [email protected].

Sports Editor