Everything was falling into place for the LSU baseball team.The Tigers had rallied from an early 8-1 defecit to tie the game at nine going into the ninth inning.But just when hope had built up for LSU, Louisiana-Lafayette senior first baseman Scott Hawkins crushed freshman Matty Ott’s first pitch of the final inning over the left-field fence to put ahead Louisiana-Lafayette for good in the Ragin’ Cajuns’ 10-9 win Wednesday at Alex Box Stadium.”It was a fastball inside,” Hawkins said. “And I was sitting on it. And I got the good part of the bat on the ball and put a good swing on it.”The home run spoiled an LSU rally from seven runs behind that was capped with junior first baseman Sean Ochinko’s two-run home run in the eighth inning to tie the game.”It’s always tough to lose,” Ochinko said. “But I like the way our team battled. We just came up a little short.”With moderate rain falling, the Ragin Cajuns struck in the top half of the first inning on a three-run home run by sophomore left fielder Travis Whipple.Whipple’s right-field blast came off LSU senior Nolan Cain, who pitched for the first time since opening day.Cain pitched just one inning for LSU and allowed three runs.Louisiana-Lafayette added another run in the second inning when a ground ball by freshman pitcher Alex Fuselier scored junior outfielder Kyle Olasin when LSU shortstop DJ LeMahieu’s throw sailed forced Ochinko off first base.LSU scored a run in the bottom of the second inning before the teams had a 58-minute rain delay.”I told our kids in the tunnel that if we could just hang in there until the fifth inning that our pitching was going to get a lot better,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri.But the rain was unable initially to extinguish the Ragin’ Cajuns’ bats and Louisiana-Lafayette added three more runs when play resumed in the top of the third inning and another run in the fourth and fifth innings.LSU’s offense got going with the Tigers in a rut and scored two runs in both the fourth and fifth innings to close Louisiana-Lafayette’s lead to 9-5.That rally ended the night of Fuselier who pitched 4 1/3 innings and allowed five earned runs. Sophomore Daniel Bradshaw and senior Louis Coleman were able to quiet the Ragin’ Cajuns offense and combined for four scoreless innings.The solid pitching allowed the Tigers to pull to 9-7 in a two-run seventh inning.Senior infielder Derek Helenihi started the rally for LSU and had an RBI single. Freshman third baseman Tyler Hanover also added an RBI ground out in the inning.But the rally was not enough in what Mainieri said was the team’s toughest loss of the season.”I wouldn’t say it was a great game,” he said. “But it was exciting. We just dug ourselves a huge hole … and we were unable to get out of it.”——Contact Casey Gisclair at [email protected]