Southeastern Louisiana Stays Alive with 9-7 Victory over Northwestern State
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas ? Southeastern Louisiana jumped out to a 7-0 lead and withstood a Northwestern State rally before it claimed a 9-7 victory Friday in an elimination game in the Southland Conference Baseball Tournament at Whataburger Field.
Lions’ centerfielder Cass Hargis led off the game with an infield single and second baseman Ty Summerlin followed with a home run to right field for quick 2-0 lead. Hargis drove in another run in the third before left fielder Brandon Street drove in two more with a double to left. Catcher Josh Cryer singled up the middle to score the fourth run before an RBI single by designated hitter Brian McCants capped the scoring with a single to right.
Northwestern scored four runs in the bottom of the third with the aid of just one hit, a single by right fielder Eric DeBlanc that plated the final two runs. The Demons’ rally that inning was aided by a total of four walks and a hit batter that saw the end of Southeastern starter Ryan Boudreaux’s day.
After the second-seeded Lions (36-21) added a run in the sixth, Northwestern scored three runs in the bottom of the inning to make it an 8-7 game. Street gave the Lions a run of insurance when he drove in Hargis with a single to right.
McCants was 3-for-5 with an RBI while Street was 3-for-4 with three RBI to lead Southeastern. DeBlanc was 3-for-5 with a pair of RBI for Northwestern.
Josh Janway improved to 4-2 in three innings of relief. Ryan Collins picked up his second save. Jimmy Heard pitched just 1 2/3 innings in his final game in a Demons’ uniform, giving up the first seven Southeastern runs before giving way to Andrew Plotkin who settled things down.
Northwestern State, the sixth seed in the tournament, concluded its season with a 26-26 overall record.
The tournament continues Thursday with UT Arlington and Stephen F. Austin in a second elimination battle. The 4 p.m. game pits UTSA and Sam Houston State, which will be followed by Texas State and Lamar at 7 p.m.
All Southland Tournament games will be streamed on SLC NOW on the Southland Conference web site at www.southland.org. Live stats are also available on the web site.
Southeastern La. Head Coach Jay Artigues
“It was a typical ballgame for us, kept grinding it out. It wasn’t pretty but that’s how we play. Guys were just doing a great job being persistent and getting some hits late in the game when we needed it. Ryan did a good job on the mound.”
“This is a typical Southland Conference game. We knew seven runs wasn’t going to win the game. We got a little complacent offensively after scoring the first seven runs. A lot of credit goes to them though; Southeastern’s bullpen came in and did a great job shutting us down. We got a little shaky on the mound but our guys settled in.”
“Right now, I’ll take an ugly win over a pretty loss any day, but we’re moving on, that’s the key.”
Southeastern La. pitcher Ryan Collins
“We were kind of fired up to play them. The last time we played Northwestern they embarrassed us a little bit. We jumped on them early and got a pretty good lead. Once they came back, we knew they weren’t going to go away and we had a fight on our hands.”
“You always have to forget about a bad outing once your head hits the pillow. You have to change your mindset and go back at it. You never look at the negatives as a pitcher. You have to look at the positives. No matter what the score is, whether we are up or down, we always look at the positives.”
Southeastern La. second baseman Ty Summerlin
“I think we did a good job of taking balls and hitting strikes. Whenever a runner was on base in scoring position, we did a good job of getting them in.”
“In the conference tournament, you can never let your foot off the pedal. Anything can happen in college baseball, so we knew we had to keep pressing. They scored a couple of runs but we kept our foot on the pedal and it worked out for us.”
Northwestern State Head Coach J.P. Davis
“Tough way to end the season, it was a tough loss yesterday as well. We got down early today and battled back, we just couldn’t take the lead. We were there late but just couldn’t take the lead. That’s the thing about Southeastern, when they take a lead, they are a really good team and they usually add to the lead. They did that today.”
“We were down several runs and there wasn’t anything we could do but take what they give us. We did a nice job of laying off pitches and that is what you are supposed to do, especially when you are down. You can’t get yourself out and have to give yourself opportunities.”
“We made mistakes in a lot of facets of the game. We left some balls over the plate early and had some base running miscues. Defensive miscues hurt us. There was a ball that was hit to first base that should have been caught that was the eighth run. We just didn’t play good defense obviously. You can’t win games like that. We battled back but we beat ourselves.”
Northwestern State pitcher Jimmy Heard
“Obviously this isn’t the way I wanted end it, but I went out there and gave it the best I could. That’s all that was asked of me. It has been a good year.”
“I came in as a freshman and didn’t have a whole lot besides a fastball. Coach Davis made me into the pitcher I am today and I thank him for that. Hopefully I will go on to bigger and better things, and if not, I gave it my best.”