The 21st-ranked Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns had a bad news, good news day on Sunday afternoon.

Louisiana split a doubleheader with the 24th-ranked Texas St. Bobcats at Lamson Park, dropping the first game, 4-0, in 8 innings, before winning the nightcap, 5-1.

The doubleheader represented the first two games of a three-game, conference series, which will be completed on Monday.

The triumph in the second game gives UL a chance to extend their current conference series win streak, which stands at 42-straight, dating back to March of 2013.

In the opener, it was a pitcher's duel between Louisiana's Summer Ellyson and Texas St.'s Randi Rupp, as the game went into the 8th inning scoreless.

The Cajuns had their chances, leaving the bases loaded in both the 4th and 7th innings.

The Bobcats scored the first run of the game with two outs in the top half of the 8th inning, when Brianna Sannem came through with a clutch pinch-hit single, scoring Sierra Steimel, to make it 1-0.

One batter later, Hailey MacKay launched a three-run home run, her 8th of the season, to extend their advantage to 4-0.

That would be all Texas St. would need, as they went on to the 4-0 shutout win.

Louisiana, who actually outhit Texas St., 9-5, was paced at the plate by Alissa Dalton, Brittany Rodriguez, and Kourtney Gremillion, who each collected two hits apiece.

The key stat was UL leaving 12 on base.

For Texas St., MacKay homered and drove in three runs.

Rupp (19-6) recorded the win in the circle for the Bobcats, tossing 8.0 innings of shutout softball, while striking out 7.

Ellyson (13-6), was the hard-luck losing pitcher for the Cajuns, allowing 4 runs on 5 hits over 8.0 innings pitched.

View the game one box score here.

In the second game, Louisiana grabbed the early advantage, scoring two runs on five hits in the bottom half of the first inning, including run-scoring two-out singles by Jolie Readeaux and Kourtney Gremillion, to give them a quick 2-0 lead.

Texas St. scored their first, and only run, in the top half of the second inning, when Sierra Steimel blooped in a two-out single, scoring Tara Oltmann, to trim the deficit to 2-1.

The Cajuns put the game away in the bottom half of the 6th inning, scoring three runs on four hits in the frame, including a double, which drove in two runs, off the bat of Kourtney Gremillion.

That would be more than enough for UL, as they went on to the 4-run triumph.

Louisiana, who outhit Texas St., 11-5, was paced at the plate by Kara Gremillion, Kourtney Gremillion, Lexie Comeaux, and Readeaux, who all collected two hits, while Kourtney Gremillion drove home three runs.

Kylee Jo Trahan (5-1) recorded the win for the Cajuns, twirling 7.0 innings, while allowing only one run on five hits.

Meagan King (5-1) suffered the loss for the Bobcats, allowing 5 runs on 10 hits over 5.0 innings.

View the game two box score here.

With the doubleheader split, Louisiana moved their overall record to 27-11, overall, and 13-4 in Sun Belt Conference play, while Texas St. moved to 31-9, and 12-1, respectively.

The two teams will conclude their three-game set with a Monday single game beginning at 11 am.

You can hear all the play-by-play action on Sports Radio ESPN 1420 and espn1420.com, beginning with the pregame show at 10:45 am.

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