In one inning the game got away from Louisiana and Rice used it to their advantage to post a 9-1 win Sunday afternoon in an elimination game at the Austin Regional held at Disch-Falk Field.

The Owls, shutout by Zach Osborne in Friday's regional opener, finally broke through on the Cajuns pitching staff in the fourth inning sending 12 hitters to the plate and pushing across seven runs.

It started with back-to-back, one-out singles from Michael Fuda and Steven Sultzbaugh. Then with both runners going on contact, Jimmy Comerota singled through the left side to score the first Owls' run off Cajuns pitching in 12 1/3 innings.

An RBI double by Chad Mozingo and sacrifice fly from Rick Hague stretched the Rice lead to 3-0.

The big blow came three at bats later with the bases loaded when Diego Seastrunk ripped a bases-clearing double upping the lead to 6-0.

Ojala held the Cajuns off balance, allowing only one-out singles in each of the first three innings and retiring the side in order in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. He finished with a complete game victory and nine strikeouts.

The loss eliminated the Ragin' Cajuns (38-22) from the Austin Regional and ended the team's season. The Owls (40-22) advanced to meet host-Texas in the regional championship game at 6:30 p.m.

"We got away from our pitching system," said head coach Tony Robichaux. "(Taylor) Hubbell got us off to a good start. Their guy (Rice RHP Mike Ojala) did an exceptional job today going wire-to-wire, especially keeping us out of their bullpen for tonight's game.

"We gave up four runs off two hits," Robichaux added. "That is what really did us in."

The careers of seniors Kyle Bostick, Chad Keefer, Kyle Olasin, Zach Osborne and Justin Robichaux - who were on the postseason travel roster - came to an end.

Greg Fontenot led Louisiana with two base hits and posted five assists to up his season total to 184 which is tied for second-most in program history.

Rice received multiple-hit games from Mozingo, Jeremy Rathjen, Seastrunk and Fuda. Seastrunk was the only player with multiple RBI.

Hubbell escaped a pair of jams in the first three innings. In the first inning, back-to-back one out hits gave the Owls a pair of baserunners then Hubbell induced a fly out and ground out to retire the side.

A one-out single from Mozingo was followed by a walk to Hague in the third inning. Hubbell struck out Rathjen and after pitching around Anthony Rendon induced a pop out to shallow right off the bat of Seastrunk to strand the bases loaded.

The Owls rally in the fourth inning caused the game to get away from Hubbell and the Ragin' Cajuns.

UL scored a run off of Ojala in the seventh inning. Chad Keefer was hit by a pitch and Alex Fuselier followed with a double to center field moving Keefer to third. Tyler Frederick followed with a groundout to shortstop to allow Keefer to cross home plate for the final time in his collegiate career.

BASES NOTED: The four-year journey for Tony Robichaux and his son, Justin, as player-coach at Louisiana came to an end...In their time together, Tony reached his 800th career victory and Justin set the school's single season and tied the career saves mark...The Ragin' Cajuns all-time NCAA Tournament record is now 20-25; this was the program's 12th appearance, overall, and eighth under Tony Robichaux...Prior to the Owls plating a run in the fourth inning, Taylor Hubbell had pitched 13 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings...Greg Fontenot's two-hit performance was his team-leading 22nd multi-hit game of the season...The seven-run outburst in the fourth by Rice as just the eighth, three-plus run inning allowed by the Cajuns pitching staff since April 6, a span of 290 innings pitched...Louisiana finished the season 3-13 when allowing six or more runs...The Cajuns ended the season holding opponents to single digit runs in 32 consecutive games...Only four times over 60 games did UL surrender double figure runs.

SATURDAY
Texas received solo home runs from Kevin Keyes and Kevin Lusson to break a 1-all tie in the fourth and the pitching of Cole Green and Chance Ruffin secured a 4-2 victory over Louisiana in the winner's bracket final of the Austin Regional Saturday night at Disch-Falk Field.

Both home runs came on 3-1 counts and gave Texas a lead Green would hold by retiring 15 of the final 18 Cajuns batters that he faced until being relieved in the eighth inning.

UL starter T.J. Geith matched Green the rest of the way posting zeros in his final four innings on the mound. Geith tossed a season-high eight innings.

The Cajuns (38-21) made one last stand against the Longhorns (48-11) loading the bases with no outs in the eighth inning following a Justin Robichaux single, Greg Fontenot walk and Kyle Olasin bunt single.

Ruffin, who surrendered Olasin's bunt single, escaped the jam allowing only a sacrifice fly by Matt Goulas that trimmed the lead to 3-2. Ruffin struck out Jordan Poirrier and Chad Keefer to preserve the lead.

Texas added an insurance run in the ninth inning via an RBI double from Russell Moldenhauer and Ruffin struck out the side in the bottom of the ninth to notch his 14th save of the season.

Louisiana will now play an elimination game on Sunday at 1 p.m., against Rice (39-22). The winner will then advance to meet Texas in the regional championship game at 6:30 p.m.

The Cajuns received a team-high three hits from Robichaux. The 7-8-9 hitters were a combined 5-of-9, but the Cajuns' 1-2-3-4 hitters were only 2-of-15.

Keyes led the Longhorns with a team-high three hits and Lusson added a pair.

The Longhorns registered the first run in the second inning after Keyes singled to left center to begin the inning and later came around to score on a Lusson single.

Three consecutive two-out hits by the Cajuns in the bottom of the second knotted the score at 1-all. Guillory, Robichaux and Fontenot followed in succession with singles that plated Guillory.

The Cajuns and Longhorns played at Disch-Falk Field for the first time since February 1995 - the inaugural season for Tony Robichaux as the Cajuns skipper.

BASES NOTED: Greg Fontenot has now posted 23 of his 34 season RBI hitting in the nine hole, collecting another one when he plated Dillon Guillory in the second inning...Jordan Poirrier made his first start at second base since May 16 vs. Western Kentucky. A groin injury had moved him to designated hitter the previous seven games...T.J. Geith made his first start on the mound since May 21 at Louisiana-Monroe. The Cajuns No. 2 starter missed a start after UL went two-and-out at Sun Belt Tournament...The Longhorns' two home runs marked only the seventh time this season that the Cajuns pitching staff surrendered multiple home runs in a game...Jordan Poirrier extended his season-high hitting streak to nine games with a double in the first inning...Louisiana's inning-ending double play in the sixth was its 60th of the year, marking the second straight season with at least 60 twin killings...Justin Robichaux's three-hit effort was his 10th multi-hit game of the season and his fourth three-hit outing.

FRIDAY
Chad Keefer delivered a two-out RBI single to right field in the top of the eighth to plate Jordan Poirrier with the only run of Louisiana's 1-0 win over Rice in the opener of the Austin Regional Friday afternoon at Disch-Falk Field in Austin, Texas.

Zach Osborne retired six of the final seven Owls' hitters he faced to capture only the second complete game shutout in NCAA Championship play by a Cajuns pitcher and first since June 2002 when Andy Gros shutout LSU.

"It was definitely the biggest game of my life," Osborne said. "Earlier this year, I threw a one-game shutout (vs. Troy), but that does not compare to this."

Osborne scattered five hits, struck out four and held the Owls to a 1-for-10 showing with runners on base. He forced a pair of groundouts and picked up a bases loaded strikeout the only three times Rice (38-22) had runners in scoring position.

"We had not thrown a shutout in NCAA postseason play since June of 2002," head coach Tony Robichaux remarked. "It would not be remarkable for him to throw a shutout, but to come in here and just believe that we are going to do that against a good hitting Rice team, it's just what he does."

Louisiana (38-20) advances to the winner's bracket final of the Austin Regional to face either Texas or Rider at 6:30 p.m., on Saturday. A win then and the Cajuns would advance to the regional championship game.

Keefer's heroics may not have been possible had Rice left fielder Michael Fuda not attempted to make a diving catch on a Kyle Olasin base hit into the left center gap. Because Fuda dove, and missed, Olasin was able to move up to second base putting him in scoring position.

Rice chose to intentionally walk Jordan Poirrier and because of that when Jared Rogers caught Olasin attempting to steal third base, Poirrier was able to move up to second base and UL still had a runner in scoring position for Keefer.

The aforementioned sequence was the first mistake made by either team that made the difference in an outstanding pitchers duel.

Rogers held the Cajuns to seven hits over eight innings and held his own keeping UL to just 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

Louisiana snapped a five-game losing streak to Rice and the shutout marked the 19th time this season the Cajuns held an opponent to two runs or fewer.

"Today was the epitome of the kind of club we are," Robichaux said. "We want to have good pitching, play good defense, and try and have timely hitting. Today was the epitome of that."

Osborne and Rogers were locked in through the first four innings. Rogers only faced two over the minimum and Osborne was at three over the minimum.

The offenses began to get traffic starting in the fifth, but Osborne and Rogers clamped down and held the scoreless tie.

UL collected back-to-back, one-out base hits in the fifth and sixth innings, but a double play ball from Rogers finished off the Cajuns in the fifth and a fly out and ground out concluded the sixth.

A pair of hit by pitches and a walk put Osborne in a jam in the sixth and would escape trouble by striking out Rathjen with the bases loaded.

Back-to-back singles by Steven Sultzbaugh and Chad Mozingo gave the Owls runners on the corners with two outs in the seventh. Osborne snagged a grounder by Jimmy Comerota to end the final threat he would face.

BASES NOTED: With the win, Louisiana picked up its 20th in NCAA Championships action...The crowd of 6,455 was the second-largest crowd the Cajuns have played in front of this season...Zach Osborne's complete-game shutout marked his 16th-straight start with at least 6.0 innings pitched...The complete-game shutout was his second of the season and the third of his career...Osborne's complete-game was his fifth of 2010, marking the first-time a UL pitcher has thrown five complete games since 2006...Chad Keefer (9 games), Jordan Poirrier (8 games) and Matt Goulas (6 games) all extended hitting streaks.

COMPLETE POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

Louisiana Head Coach Tony Robichaux
Opening Statement: Today was kind of the epitome of the kind of club we are. We want to have good pitching, and we want to play good defense, and we want to try and have timely hitting. Today was the epitome of that. Zach (Osborne) gave us good pitching, he had good defense behind him, and (Chad) Keefer got the timely hit. Zach has done this all year. He does not let the game get away from him. He manages the game almost like a manager throughout the ball game, so it is like having another coach out there on the mound. You have to give the Rice pitcher credit. He did a great job, too. We just got a timely hit, and that was enough to win.

On RHP Zach Osborne's performance today: We have not thrown a shutout since June of 2002. It would not be remarkable for him to throw a shutout, but to come in here and just believe that we are going to do that against a good hitting Rice team, it's just what he does. He keeps the ball down, changes speeds. He has excellent life and movement on his fastball, so it is so hard to square him up. Even though he gets tired, he still has run and movement.

Louisiana RHP Zach Osborne
On how he felt today: My arm felt great. The only thing that started getting tired were my legs. In between innings, going and sitting down and then trying to get back up and get my legs back under me was the only thing that was really bothering me.

On pitching in a game like this one: Whenever I run a game like that, I just really want to be out there. It is my game, so I just want to stay out there as long as I can.

On the pitching duel with Rice RHP Jared Rogers: He was a great pitcher, and he was giving us a lot of trouble. It makes me really have to be on my game, too, because I cannot afford to give up and run because it is a huge run if one does score. Our run won the ball game. In those kinds of games, you just have to keep them off the bases and get your hitters back in the dugout.

On whether this was the best game he has ever pitched: It was definitely the biggest game of my life. Earlier this year, I threw a one-game shutout, but that does not compare to this.

Louisiana C Chad Keefer
On RHP Zach Osborne's performance: Coach asked me how his velocity was doing, and he did not drop off at all. If anything, I am guessing Zach picked it up a little bit in later innings. A couple times we went out to the mound just to give him a little breather.

On people talking about seeing Texas and Rice in the final game: Don't leave us out. We got here, so we are here to play, just like they are.

-- Ragin' Cajuns --