Baseball: April 8 Scoreboard
Nicholls 3, Louisiana-Monroe 2 (10)
LSU 9, Northwestern State 6
Louisiana-Monroe 4, McNeese State 3
Nicholls 3, Louisiana-Monroe 2 (10)
MONROE, La. – After a grueling defensive struggle through nine innings on Wednesday afternoon, the Nicholls State University baseball team defeated ULM, 3-2 in the 10th inning, behind the fleet feet of Byron Cobb and a little luck.
In the extra frame, pinch hitter Seth Stevens absolutely crushed the first pitch that he saw, doubling to deep right center. Stevens advanced on a sacrifice bunt from Alex Tucker, before Cobb entered the game as a pinch runner for Stevens. In the next at back David Zorn pushed a grounder to first, reaching on a fielder’s choice. On the play, Cobb strayed from third base, not sure whether he should make a play for home, and was caught in a pickle. It looked as though Cobb would be easily tagged out, but the speedy former Colonel football player made a quick juke move in an attempt to slide by catcher Spencer Hemphill. Cobb was initially ruled out on the play, but after an appeal from Head Coach Seth Thibodeaux and a conference of the four umpires, the call was overturned and Cobb was ruled safe.
A
video replay clearly showed that Hemphill tagged Cobb with his glove hand, while still holding the ball in his off hand.
The ballgame opened as a defensive struggle with three scoreless innings before the Warhawks (16-15) opened things up in the fourth. Kodie Tidwell walked, advanced to second on a ground out, took third on a single to right field and came home on a Hemphill single up the middle.
The Colonels (19-13-1) responded with two of runs in the sixth to take a 2-1 lead. Darius Knight and Kyle Reese notched consecutive singles before the pair advanced on a Tanner Vandevere ground out. Alex Shermer subsequently singled to center, scoring both Knight and Reese.
ULM punched back in the seventh, taking advantage of a Nicholls error to score an unearned run and tie the game.
The Warhawks threatened in the ninth with two base runners, but reliever Stuart Holmes and the Colonel defense were able to retire the side and send the game to extra innings.
It was Cobb’s unconventional run in the 10
th that proved to be the game-winner as Alex Ernestine and the Nicholls defense held ULM scoreless through the final frame to seal the victory.
Marc Frazier tossed the first six innings, allowing just one run on six hits with two strikeouts. In relief, Jason McDonald allowed one unearned run on one hit and fanned one batter, while Robbie Petty threw a scoreless frame with a strikeout. Holmes (2-0) earned the win, giving up just one hit and fanning one batter in the ninth inning. Ernestine registered his first save of the year, holding the Warhawks scoreless through the final inning.
Cole Hendrix tossed the first 5 2/3 innings for ULM, allowing two runs on four hits. Brandon Bell (3-5) took the loss, surrendering one run on one hit with a strikeout through 4 1/3 innings on the mound.
Reese led the Colonels offensively, batting 2-for-4 with a run scored. Shermer was 1-for-3 and registered two RBIs in the victory.
Keelin Rasch paced the Warhawks with a 2-for-5 day, while Hemphill and Dalton Todd each contributed an RBI in the loss.
The Colonels will have just one day to catch their breath before a three-game conference series against Central Arkansas, beginning Friday at 6 p.m. in Conway. First pitch for game two of the series is slated for 4 p.m. on Saturday, with the series-finale set for 1 p.m. on Sunday. Friday’s matchup will be broadcast live on KNSU 91.5 FM, while games two and three will air on KTIB 640 AM.
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LSU 9, Northwestern State 6
BATON ROUGE, La. – A fast start for the Northwestern State baseball team was a welcome sight Wednesday night at Alex Box Stadium.
However, the Demons watched No. 3 LSU turn a second chance into a four-run second inning that set up the Tigers’ 9-6 victory.
Northwestern State (17-15) jumped to leads in the first and second innings only to see LSU (29-5) rally each time.
NSU took the first lead of the game when Joel Atkinson was hit by a pitch, took second on a sacrifice bunt, moved to third on a single and scored on a Chase Daughdrill groundout.
LSU answered with Chris Sciambra’s solo home run in the bottom of the first.
The Demons used a home run of their own to regain the lead, as Garrett Logan smacked the first home run of his career to left field off Jake Godfrey (6-0).
The Tigers got another solo home run in the second inning, this one from Jared Foster off Evan Tidwell (2-3) before tying the game on a sacrifice fly.
With the game tied at 3, Tidwell appeared to have ended the inning by getting Alex Bregman to fly out to right field. However, a balk was called, giving Bregman a second chance.
He took advantage, lining Tidwell’s next pitch to the left-center field gap for an RBI double that put LSU ahead to stay.
Bregman scored on Chris Chinea single to complete the four-run inning.
LSU added a pair of runs in the fourth inning to build a four-run lead before the Demons bullpen slowed the Tigers’ offense.
NSU put together a two-run seventh inning, using an RBI groundout by Caleb Dugas and an RBI fielder’s choice by David Fry to cut the lead to 7-5. However, Hunter Newman induced a fielder’s choice to end the inning.
Fry drove in a run in the ninth, as the Demons brought the tying run to the plate twice in the ninth inning against Parker Bugg, who battled wildness to preserve the victory.
The Demons return home Friday when they host New Orleans in the opener of a three-game Southland Conference series. The game currently is scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. first pitch, but there is a chance weather could affect the weekend schedule.
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Louisiana-Monroe 4, McNeese State 3
MONROE, La. – The McNeese State baseball team delivered three home runs in its mid-week finale against the University of Louisiana at Monroe Wednesday but it was not enough to cut into an early deficit as the Cowboys fell to ULM in a 4-3 affair at Warhawk Field.
ULM improved to 17-15 overall on the season after taking the two-game series from the Pokes. McNeese is now 20-14 on the season after dropping its fourth consecutive mid-week contest.
The Cowboys will return to league action this weekend when the welcome Lamar to Lake Charles for a three-game weekend series. The first game is set for Friday, April 10 with first pitch at 6 p.m.
After trailing by three runs in the first four innings of the contest, McNeese (20-14) chopped down the lead to a 3-1 score after Matt Gallier launched his fourth homer of the season over the right field wall.
The Cowboys again cut into the lead in the top half of the seventh frame when Lucas Quary sent a missile to left field that scored McNeese’s second run of the game and made the score 3-2. The homer was the sixth of the season for Quary, which is a team-high.
After the Warhawks (17-15) tacked on another run in the bottom of the inning to stretch out to a two-run lead, the Pokes made one last run at a rally that was led off by a no-doubter from Billy Sommers. The solo shot was Sommers’ first of the season as it cut the lead to a 4-3 score. However, the Cowboys were unable to put anything else together and fell in the second game of the weekend series.
McNeese starting pitcher Trent Fontenot (3-2) was charged with the loss after having delivered 5.1 innings of work and scattered nine hits and surrendered three runs. Fontenot was able to fan six batters in the process.
Relievers Cole Prejean and Cory LaPeze combined for the last 2.2 innings and allowed only one run to score despite giving up three hits.
ULM starter Brayden Bouchay received the victory after firing of six innings and allowed only two runs on six hits. Anthony Herrera picked up the save for the Warhawks after a two inning session that allowed just one McNeese run to score.
Gallier led all Cowboy batters with two hits on the evening along with an RBI and a run scored. Six other McNeese hitters recorded a hit in the game.
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