Baseball: March 16 Scoreboard
McNeeses State 8, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 0
Iowa 7, Houston Baptist 1
McNeeses State 8, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 0
LAKE CHARLES, La. – McNeese State senior Lucas Quary recorded a pair of two-run homers while a quartet of hurlers combined for nine scoreless innings of baseball to help the Cowboy baseball team to a 8-0 shutout victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in a non-conference Monday night tilt at Cowboy Diamond.
In his last nine at-bats, Quary has launched an impressive five missiles out into the McNeese athletic complex parking lot. The five total taters that he has produced throughout the last four days has abled him to take control of the Southland Conference home runs list with a league-high five. Quary has now hit at least one homer in the last three contests.
“You never get up from a hot slot machine,” said head coach Justin Hill of Quary’s performance. “People in this town can relate to that.”
Starting pitcher Ethan Stremmel (3-1) worked five beautiful innings of shutout baseball allowing only two hits and two walks and fanned six batters in the process. He is now tied for most wins among the Cowboys pitching staff.
Relievers Cole Prejean, Cory LaPeze and Collin Kober combined for four innings and recorded four strikeouts and allowed only two hits to help complete the shutout over the Islanders. The shutout was the Pokes’ first since March 19, 2013 against Harvard.
McNeese (15-6) extended its home-winning streak to seven games with the mid-week victory and a four-game streak overall. The Pokes have now won eight out of their last 10 contests. With the loss, AMCC dipped to 10-7 on the year.
“Our kids are playing well right now and are seeing the bigger picture,” said Hill. “They are playing in the moment right now and the thing that we told them is that it wasn’t planned like this but we just played really good baseball four days in a row. This is going to be something we ask this team to do in late May or in a conference tournament. They have shown the ability to stay locked in and swing the bats and deliver clutch pitching along with good defense. We have shown the ability to do that so the confidence is there the next time we are in that situation.”
Quary led the way for the offense as he batted 2-for-4 with four RBI and two run scored. Senior outfielder Andrew Guillotte recorded another multiple-hit game as he went 2-for-5 with a run scored and a stolen base. Infielders Connor Lloyd and Connor Crane each knocked in two runs apiece.
Guillotte’s career stolen base mark now stands at 67 total as he is now two away from tying for second on the all-time McNeese steals list. He also upped his career hits to 203 and now stands in fifth place all-time as he passed Stuart Landreneau with his two hits in the contest.
The Pokes got out to a two run lead in the second inning as Quary lifted a two-run no-doubter into the parking lot in left field that drove in outfielder Lewis Guilbeau who had walked to lead off the inning.
For the second game in a row, the McNeese offense batted through the lineup twice as the Pokes scored four runs in the fifth inning to take a 6-0 lead and help put the game out of reach. Crane and Lloyd each delivered a pair of two-RBI hits in clutch situations.
In the eighth inning, Quary his fifth tater of the season over the wall and rounded the bases along with Guilbeau to up the lead to eight runs and an eventual 8-0 score over AMCC.
McNeese will be back in action over the weekend as the Cowboys take the long trip out to West Texas. The Cowboys will visit Abilene Christian for a three-game league series that is slated to begin Friday at 6 o’clock.
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Iowa 7, Houston Baptist 1
HOUSTON, Texas – After losing the first two games of the four-game series, Iowa rebounded by downing HBU, 7-2, Monday afternoon at Husky Field.
Junior shortstop Louie Payetta went 2-for-4 with an RBI for the Huskies (9-10).
Jake Mangler was 4-for-5 with a pair of RBIs, Joel Booker was 3-for-5 with a run and Tyler Peyton was 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run for the Hawkeyes (11-4). John Barrett had a pinch-hit two-run single and Nick Roscetti doubled, drove in a run and scored.
Calvin Mathews (2-0) earned the win, shutting out HBU on four hits with two strikeouts and two walks in 5.1 innings. Senior Curtis Jones (1-3) took the loss for the Huskies, allowing four runs on eight hits with five strikeouts and a walk in six innings.
Iowa jumped out to a quick lead as Eric Toole led off the game with a single and scored on an RBI single by Peyton. The Hawkeyes added three more in the second on Roscetti’s RBI double, an RBI groundout by Toole and an RBI single by Mangler.
Jones shut down the Hawkeyes for the next four innings, but Iowa scored three in the eighth on a two-run single by Barrett and an RBI single by Mangler.
The Huskies finally got on the board with a pair in the ninth. With the bases loaded, senior centerfielder Zach Nehrir was hit by a pitch and Payetta delivered a sacrifice fly.
The series concludes with a 1 p.m. first pitch Tuesday.
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