SAN MARCOS, Texas – Ariel Ortiz tied the Texas State single-season home run record with her 13th, but it was DJ Sanders' three homers, including two grand slams, that lifted No. 17/18 Louisiana to a pair of victories against the Bobcats on Good Friday.  
 
The Ragin' Cajuns took game one 8-1 and game two 12-4 in front of 1,013 fans, which ranks as the third-largest attendance in Bobcat Softball Stadium history.
 
Texas State is now 30-10 on the season and 11-5 in Sun Belt play, while Louisiana improves to 32-8 overall and 14-0 against league foes.
 
Game One Recap
 
No 17/18 Louisiana pounded out 10 hits, including two-run homers by Haley Hayden and DJ Sanders, en route to an 8-1-win over Texas State in the first game of the Good Friday doubleheader.
 
Four of Louisiana's 10 hits went for extra bases as seven different Ragin' Cajuns counted base knocks. Haley Hayden led the Louisiana charge with a 3-for-3 day with four RBI and three runs scored.
 
Alex Stewart started in the circle for Louisiana and surrendered a hit and the Bobcats' run in her third of an inning before giving way to Alyssa Denham out of the bullpen. Denham, who earned the win to improve to 13-1 on the season, worked the final 6.2 innings and limited the Bobcats to two hits, while striking out five.
 
Randi Rupp suffered the loss to fall to 20-6 overall. The junior pitched the complete game, surrendering all eight Ragin Cajun runs (six earned) despite notching seven strikeouts.
 
Louisiana took a 2-0 lead two batters into the game as Hayden homered to dead center. Kara Gremillion led off the game with a single to short and four pitches after a dropped foul extended Hayden's at-bat, the senior hit her eighth round-tripper of the season.
 
Texas State answered with a run in the home half of the first, halving the Ragin' Cajuns' lead. Christiana McDowell drew a one-out walk and advanced to second on an illegal pitch. Ariel Ortiz immediately followed with single back up the middle, scoring McDowell for her 43rd RBI of the season.
 
The Ragin' Cajuns reestablished a two-run lead off the bat of Sanders in the third. Sanders turned on Rupp's 2-1 offering and sent the pitch over the left-field wall for Louisiana's second two-run blast of the game.
 
An inning later the visitors put the game out of reach with a three-run frame for a 7-1 lead. Back-to-back infield singles with one out were followed by Gremillion's two-RBI double to the wall in right center. Aleah Craighton then singled home Gremillion for the Ragin'
 
Craighton drove home Gremillion with a sac fly to left for Louisiana's eighth and final run in the sixth inning.
 
Game Two Recap
 
Louisiana's DJ Sanders hit two grand slams as the No. 17/18 Bobcats won game two 12-4 in six innings.
 
Sanders finished the game 2-for-4 with eight RBI as the Ragin' Cajuns totaled 14 hits.
 
Texas State collected seven hits in the contest as seven different Bobcats recorded hits.
 
Ariel Ortiz put the Bobcats on scoreboard with a solo shot in the bottom of the first. The junior sent Louisiana's Alex Stewart's 1-0 pitch out to left for her 13th dinger of the season and 31st of her career. Ortiz, who holds the TXST career home run record, now co-owns the Bobcat single-season mark at 13 with Ryan Stukel's 2003 campaign.
 
Louisiana answered with a six-run second to take a 6-1 lead. The Ragin' Cajuns loaded the bases with one out, then used an infield single by Kara Gremillion to knot the game 1-1 and keep the bases full. Three pitches later Sanders cleared the bases with a grand slam to left center. Hayley Hayden followed with a walk and later scored on Aleah Craighton's double to center, providing the 6-1 Ragin' Cajun advantage.
 
Texas State scratched its second run across in the fourth as Kennedy Cline singled up the middle to drive home Jaelyn Young and cut the Louisiana led to 6-2.
 
Louisiana responded to score five runs in the fifth, pushing its lead to 11-2. Sanders counted four RBI in the inning as she hit her second grand slam of the game and NCAA record-tying sixth of the season. Daniella Chaves accounted for the fifth RBI of the frame on her single through the left side that scored Craighton.
 
The Bobcats then scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth as Webb doubled home Kimberlin Naivar and Christiana McDowell, trimming the Louisiana lead to 11-4.
 
Louisiana provided the 12-4 final with a run in the sixth as Kelli Martinez touched home on a sac fly by Hayden.
 
Stewart threw six complete to earn her 15th win of the season. She struck out five and surrendered all four of the TXST runs.
 
Jodi Paige Williams (5-3) was saddled with the loss, throwing 4.1 innings with two strikeouts and 12 hits allowed. Krista Jacobs worked the final five outs.
 
UP NEXT
Texas State and Louisiana conclude the three-game series with a single game Saturday (April 14) at 2 p.m.
 
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