Baseball: April 24 Scoreboard
Southeastern Louisiana 3, Houston Baptist 2
Southeastern Louisiana 6, Houston Baptist 1
Northwestern State 4, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 3
Lamar 1, UIW 0
McNeese State 9, Nicholls 1
Oklahoma 3, Sam Houston State 2
Southeastern Louisiana 3, Houston Baptist 2
Southeastern Louisiana 6, Houston Baptist 1
HOUSTON, Texas – Southeastern Louisiana swept a Southland Conference doubleheader Friday at Houston Baptist, downing the Huskies by scores of 3-2 and 6-1 at Husky Field.
The Lions (32-12, 16-4 Southland) have won seven-consecutive conference games and remain atop the Southland standings heading into Saturday's action. HBU (21-19, 12-8 Southland) has dropped its last three games against Southeastern.
With two-hit efforts in both games, sophomore outfielder Jacob Seward extended his hitting streak to 21 games.
Southpaw Kyle Cedotal (5-2, 1.75), a junior from Denham Springs, Louisiana, draws the starting nod for Southeastern in Saturday's 1 p.m. series finale against Husky right-hander Curtis Jones (4-4, 2.74).
The game can be heard in the Hammond area on KSLU 90.9 FM, online and through either the KSLU or TuneIn Radio smartphone apps. Fans can also keep up with the action through live statistics or by following @SLUathletics on Twitter. Streaming video is available courtesy HBU. Links for audio, video and stats are available on the baseball schedule page at
www.LionSports.net.
Game One - Southeastern La. 3, Houston Baptist 2
Southeastern broke open a scoreless game with a pair of third-inning runs.
Carson Crites doubled to left field leading off the inning. Chris Eades followed with a single to right-center, putting runners on the corners with no outs. HBU starting pitcher Matthew McCullough (7-2) then hit Ryan Byers with a pitch to load the bases.
Seward hit a sinking single to center, driving in Crites. Huskies center fielder Zach Nehrir attempted to force Eades at third, but his throw sailed into the third-base dugout and allowed Eades to coast home with the second run.
The Lions picked up the eventual game-winning run in the fifth. Seward singled with one out and advanced to second on a ground out. Daniel Midyett drove in Seward with a double down the left-field line.
Southeastern starting pitcher Tate Scioneaux (6-2) worked around the HBU hitting attack, stranding runners in every inning except the seventh and eighth when he retired the side in order. The Huskies, who stranded 13 runners in the game, finally broke through in the sixth with a pair of runs.
Scioneaux earned the win, allowing two runs in eight innings of work. He scattered 12 hits, fanned four and did not issue a walk. Kyle Keller worked a scoreless ninth to earn his second save of the season.
Kennon Menard (2-for-4), Midyett (2-for-4) and Seward (2-for-4) led the Lions at the plate.
Game Two - Southeastern La. 6, Houston Baptist 1
The second game of the doubleheader started out just as much a pitcher's duel as the opener, with the Lions holding on to a 2-1 lead through six innings.
Southeastern picked up single runs in the third and fourth.
Ryan Byers, the reigning Southland hitter of the week, singled to lead off the third and then swiped his team-leading 13th stolen base of the season. After Seward picked up an infield single, Byers scored from third on Crites' sacrifice fly to left.
In the fourth, Menard knocked a one-out single and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Eades drove in Menard with a two-out double to right-center.
The Huskies cut Southeastern's lead in half with an unearned run in the fifth.
In the seventh, the Lions were able to pad their lead thanks to a couple of HBU miscues. Byers doubled to lead off the inning and advanced to third on Seward's single through the right side. Crites then drew a walk to load the bases with no outs.
Midyett cranked a sacrifice fly to left-center, but Nehrir dropped the ball when pulling it out of his glove for a throw to third, allowing both Byers and Seward to score. Crites advanced to third on the play. Kevin Carr hit a grounder back to the mound, but the throw by HBU reliever Ross Kennell missed the plate allowing Crites to score the final run of the inning.
Southeastern added a run in the ninth.
Junior right-hander Jake Johnson (8-1) earned the win, allowing one unearned run in seven innings of work. He scattered six hits, walked three and fanned five batters. Freshman right-hander Kade Granier retired all six batters he faced, working two scoreless innings to close out the game.
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Northwestern State 4, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 3
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Last at-bat wins are becoming about as common for the Northwestern State baseball team as Adam Oller complete games.
The Demons got both Friday night at Chapman Field, using C.J. Webster’s ninth-inning sacrifice fly to back Oller’s fourth complete game of the season in a 4-3 win against Southland Conference rival Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Webster’s sacrifice fly to right field off Islanders closer Jacob Dorris gave Northwestern State (23-17, 15-6) its second last at-bat win in the last three games, helping the Demons keep place with league-leading Southeastern Louisiana, which swept a doubleheader at Houston Baptist.
Webster’s RBI made a winner out of Oller (6-2), who scattered nine hits and struck out one in his first complete game since April 2 at Southeastern Louisiana.
The Islanders (19-18, 9-10) tied the game with two runs off Oller in the 7th before the Demons right-hander found his groove in the final two innings. Oller started the ninth inning with the only strikeout of the game, fanning Kyle Danford, who had been 3-for-3 to that point.
Oller and Islanders starter Matt Danton dueled for seven innings before Texas A&M-Corpus Christi went to its bullpen. The Demons had a chance to touch up Islanders reliever Nolan Holland (1-1) in the eighth, but Holland ended the threat with an inning-ending double play.
The Demons would not be denied in the ninth. Matthew Alford led off with an infield single before Joel Atkinson laid down a sacrifice bunt up the first base line.
Holland threw wildly to first base, allowing Alford to move to third and Atkinson to take second.
The Islanders then went to Dorris, who has six saves this season. After getting Brinson to ground out to second, Dorris intentionally walked Daughdrill before Webster lofted an 0-2 pitch to straightaway right field, plenty deep enough to score Alford with the game-winning run.
Oller then put the Islanders down in order in the ninth. While Oller was strongest in the last two innings, he had plenty of help from his defense early.
Daughdrill turned a stellar double play, diving to snare a line drive and double off Danford at first base to end the fourth inning. David Fry and Joel Atkinson combined a key 4-6-3 double play in the fifth inning, shortly after Cort Brinson’s sixth home run of the year snapped a 1-all tie in the top of the fifth.
Two batters before Brinson drilled his opposite-field shot to right, Miller Parker worked Danton’s only walk of the game, fouling off numerous 3-2 pitches before taking ball four on Danton’s 11th pitch of the battle.
The Islanders took a 1-0 lead in the third on Tyler Ware’s sacrifice fly before Nick Heath’s two-out single in the fourth tied the game.
Brinson then extended his career-long hitting streak to 22 games with the tiebreaking two-run shot.
The series continues Saturday with a 3 p.m. matchup between NSU right-hander Josh Oller (6-1, 4.52) and Islanders left-hander Trevor Belicek (7-2, 3.10).
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Lamar 1, UIW 0
BEAUMONT, Texas - Chase Angelle was the poster boy for the old adage "getting better as the game goes along," and was rewarded in the bottom of the ninth when the Lamar baseball team punched in the contest's lone run on the way to a 1-0 win over Incarnate Word Friday night in Southland Conference action at Vincent-Beck Stadium.
Angelle (5-4) was perfect in three of his last six innings-which included the ninth- and ran into danger one time after fourth inning. He sat down UIW (13-27, 4-15 Southland Conference) 1-2-3 in the fourth, sixth and ninth innings, and only allowed only one base runner in the fifth and eight frames.
The runners in the fifth and eighth were stranded at first base.
The senior worked his fourth complete game of the season and notched his second shutout, all with 123 pitches on the night.
Stijn van der Meer scored the winning run for Lamar (19-22, 8-11), all after he reached first with a leadoff walk and two perfectly placed bunts forced the Incarnate Word defense to make plays it could not.
With van der Meer on first, Jake Nash squared around for a sacrifice and pushed the ball down the first base line, but reached safely after his hustle play beat out Geno Encina's bobble and throw.
Pinch hitter Justin Eckols entered the batter's box with plans to move both runners up a base with a sacrifice, but the throw to catch him at first hit second baseman Blake Woosley's glove and rolled down the right field line, which allowed van der Meer to score.
Encina (2-4) was tagged with the loss even though he did not give up an earned run. He surrendered five hits, walked two batters and finished the game with 10 strikeouts. Neither team reached into their bullpens.
Lamar finished the game with five hits, one more than UIW, and neither team recorded extra base hit.
A big part of Angelle's success was the Southland Conference's leading defense behind him. In the second inning with a runner on first, Nash was perfectly aligned and caught a scorched line drive and turned around to double off the runner.
Reed Seeley ended a potential rally in the fifth after a two-out walk when he smothered a grounder at the third base line, jumped to his feet and made a good throw to first for the out.
The closest that UIW got to scoring was in the seventh when the Cardinals had runners on first and second with one out. Brance Kahle bounced a chopper that pulled Nash away from first, and he made the only play he could at second. Colton Besett rolled a dribbler to Seeley, who nailed the force at second again.
The Lamar Cardinals will go for the series win at 2 o'clock on Saturday, but in pregame festivities LU will honor team members who returned for reunion weekend as well as head coach Jim Gilligan for winning his career 1,300th game.
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McNeese State 9, Nicholls 1
LAKE CHARLES, La. – It was Cameron Toole’s career night at the plate that helped lift the McNeese State baseball team to a series opening win Friday night against a squad that featured one of the top pitching staffs in the country as the Cowboys enjoyed a 9-1 victory over Nicholls at Cowboy Diamond.
The Pokes scored their first win over the Colonels during the regular season for the first time in the last six meetings. The win also improved McNeese’s record to 23-19 overall on the season and 13-9 in conference play while Nicholls dipped to 23-15-1 and 10-9 in league action.
McNeese put together an excellent offensive production at the plate as the Pokes pounded out 11 hits, drew eight walks and scored nine runs against the Colonels. Nicholls entered the series ranked fourth in the nation in ERA. The Cowboys’ eight-walks drawn tied the season-high after doing so against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi earlier in the month.
Toole enjoyed one of the best nights of his career as the junior catcher put together a 3-for-4 batting performance while knocking in a career-high five runs in the process. Toole now stands second on the team with 23 RBI this year.
Junior right-hander Kaleb Fontenot (6-3) turned in another spectacular performance Friday night after tossing 8.0 innings and allowed just one run to score despite scattering eight hits. He walked just one batter and fanned seven along the way.
After falling behind a run in the top of the opening frame, McNeese wasted no time in tying the ballgame up as junior Billy Sommer’s RBI-single knotted the score up at one run apiece for both teams.
The foot was laid down on the throttle in the bottom of the next innings as the Cowboys exploded for three runs that included RBI hits from Toole, freshman Joe Provenzano and senior Connor Lloyd. Lloyd finished the night with a hit and a walk along with two runs batted in.
With a three run lead, the Pokes tacked on a run in the fourth and fifth innings off of a two out walk from Lloyd and a RBI-single from Toole.
The Pokes added to their lead in the seventh inning as Toole dropped a bases loaded double into the outfield and abled three runs to score and help put the game out of reach as McNeese extended its lead to a 9-1 score.
McNeese will be back in action Saturday afternoon when they take the field against Nicholls in game two of the weekend series. First pitch is slated for 3 o’clock.
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Oklahoma 3, Sam Houston State 2
NORMAN, Okla. -- The Sam Houston State baseball team dropped the opening game of a three-game series to Oklahoma in Norman, Okla. on Friday night.
The Kats (22-21), rallied for a pair of runs in the seventh to tie the game at two, but a homer for the No. 23-ranked Sooners in the bottom half of the frame gave OU the 3-2 win in the opener.
Andrew Godail once again turned in a great start, going seven innings allowing all three runs while striking out four.
Alex Bisacca worked a scoreless inning in relief.
After allowing runs in the first and fourth the Kats got on the board in the top of the seventh.
A two-out walk to nine-hole hitter and catcher
Collin Yelich got things started and an error kept the inning alive. Center fielder
Colt Atwood loaded the bases on a slow-grounder to short and designated hitter
Hayden Simerly tied the game with a two-run base knock up the middle.
Trailing 3-2 in the ninth, the Kats nearly pulled off a come back. A bunt-single up the third base line by pinch-hitter
Jake MacWilliam for Sam Houston started against Evans in the ninth. He got the next man looking and then a walk moved the potential game-tying run into scoring position. A single pounded through the left-side by Simerly loaded the bases, but Evans came back for another called strike three and a harmless grounder to third to record his sixth save of the season.
The two teams will play again Saturday at 2 p.m. and the game will be televised live on Fox College Sports Central.
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