Baseball: May 1 Scoreboard
Nicholls 2, Houston Baptist 1
McNeese State 9, Stephen F. Austin 8
UIW 5, Central Arkansas 4
Sam Houston State 3, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 2
Abilene Christian 8, New Orleans 6
Southeastern Louisiana 3, Lamar 0
Notre Dame 4, Northwestern State 1
Nicholls 2, Houston Baptist 1
THIBODAUX, La
. – Closer Stuart Holmes picked up his 14th save of the year on Friday as the Nicholls State University baseball team gutted out a 2-1 victory over Houston Baptist in a Southland Conference pitching duel on Friday night at Ray E. Didier Field.
With the save, Holmes moved into a tie for the school record for most saves in a single season. Alex Velasquez picked up 14 saves for the squad in 2000 and finished his career with 22.
The Colonels (26-16-1, 12-10 SLC) jumped on top with an early run in the first inning. Justin Holt led off with a single to left field, and took two bases on a hit-and-run single from Darius Knight. A few pitches later, Holt scored on a Kyle Reese sacrifice fly to left.
The Huskies (22-21, 12-10 SLC) responded in the second inning, taking advantage of two Nicholls errors to tie the ballgame. Greg Espinosa was hit by a pitch and took second on a throwing error. Brandon Morones subsequently singled to second base, sending Espinosa to third. The Colonels attempted to catch Espinosa rounding third, but an errant throw allowed him to come home.
Houston Baptist threatened in the fifth when Andrew Alvarez walked and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. The subsequent batter flied out to right, sending Louie Payetta to the plate. Payetta launched a blooper towards the freshly painted Nicholls logo in center field and looked to have an RBI base hit, but Holt sprinted in, making an acrobatic sliding catch to end the frame.
The Colonels punched back in the sixth, scoring a run to take a 2-1 advantage. Reese crushed a double to the wall in leftfield, advanced to third on a wild pitch and came home when an errant throw from the Huskies’ catcher sailed into left field.
Houston Baptist made things interesting in the eighth. With two outs and runners at the corners, the Huskies attempted a double steal. Alex Tucker fired the ball to Joey Morales behind the pitcher’s mound and Morales immediately returned a throw home. Tucker received the ball and tagged a diving Zach Nehrir out at the plate, ending the inning.
Ryan Deemes (5-2) picked up the win, allowing just one unearned run on four hits with three strikeouts through seven innings on the mound. In relief, Robbie petty tossed one scoreless inning, allowing just one hit and fanning one batter. Holmes tossed the final hitless frame, recording a strikeout.
Taylor Wright (6-6) took the loss, allowing two runs on seven hits and fanning four batters in six innings on the hill.
Reese paced Nicholls offensively with a 1-for-2 outing, an RBI and a run scored. Knight finished 2-for-4. Four other Colonel batters registered a hit in the win.
The Huskies were held to just five hits on the night, with no player turning in a multi-hit outing.
Game two is slated for 6 p.m. on Saturday, with the series-finale set for 1 p.m. on Sunday. Both matchups will be broadcast live on KTIB 640 AM.
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McNeese State 9, Stephen F. Austin 8
LAKE CHARLES, La. – It was the sheer will and determination that allowed senior Andrew Guillotte to rise up and deliver a walk-off single and help the McNeese State baseball team top Stephen F. Austin, 9-8, in Friday night’s Southland Conference series at Cowboy Diamond.
Just two days after being announced a finalist for the prestigious Senior CLASS Award, Guillotte showed no signs of letting off as he delivered four hits in the ballgame along with two RBI. It is the second time this season that the Moss Bluff native has produced four hits in a game.
It was Guillotte’s seventh inning single that initially sealed the deal for the Pokes, who held a one run lead entering the next frame, before delivering the final punch in the last inning as he sent a single into left field and looked on as pinch runner Matt Trahan scoot home for the win.
The walk-off home win was the second consecutive for McNeese after having delivered a solo-shot over the right field wall against Nicholls last Sunday.
The win improves the Cowboys to 26-20 overall and 15-10 in the SLC standings while SFA dipped to 15-31 on the year and 9-15 in league action. McNeese now holds a 19-9 mark within the confines of Cowboy Diamond this season, a win total that it has not reached since 2011, and has a chance to tie the all-time home wins record with five contests remaining.
Relief pitcher Collin Kober (5-1) picked up the win for McNeese after tossing the final two innings of the contest and allowed himself to work out of a jam after having given up two runs on two hits.
Guillotte led the offensive effort in the contest while three other Cowboys turned in multiple-hit performances. Senior Connor Lloyd was effective at the plate with a 2-for-4 performance along with two runs scored, an RBI and a walk. Freshman Joe Provenzano extended his reached-base streak to 22 games with two hit and a walk.
The Pokes pounded out 14 hits in the contest while Stephen F. Austin stood close by with 13 in the contest.
Each team traded blows within the first three innings of the ballgame that was highlighted by three runs by the Pokes in first inning followed by three runs from the Jacks in the top of the second. SFA climbed out to a 6-4 lead in the top of the fourth frame.
The Cowboys slowly started to claw its way back in the sixth inning with a run that was scored by Matt Gallier on a wild pitch, cutting the lead to just one run. McNeese then settled for two hits and two runs in the next frame that was given life on a bases loaded walk from Lucas Quary to knot up the score while Guillotte’s hit propelled the Pokes into a 7-6 lead.
An insurance run was added in the eighth by the Cowboys as senior Connor Lloyd slid across home plate on another wild pitch from the SFA pitching staff to make the score 8-6.
The Jacks used two runs of their own to tie the ballgame for the third time on the night and would force McNeese to use the last inning and score the victory.
The Pokes will be back in action against Stephen F. Austin Saturday afternoon when the two teams meet in game two of the weekend series. The game is slated for a 3 o’clock first pitch.
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UIW 5, Central Arkansas 4
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS –
Austin Hoffman (Goodyear, AZ/Millenium HS) hit a walk-off double down the left field line to give the University of the Incarnate Word baseball team the series opener, 5-4 against Southland Conference rival Central Arkansas on Friday night at Sullivan Field.
The Cardinals (16-27, 7-15 SLC) found themselves down 4-3 with three outs left, but four straight hits sealed the come-from-behind win.
Aaron Warren (Schertz/Warren HS) led off the ninth inning with his fourth hit of the night.
Mark Whitehead (San Antonio/Johnson HS) followed with a bunt single and
Matt Morris (Scottsdale, AZ/Saguaro HS) also bunted for a single over the charging third baseman to load up the bases with no outs. Hoffman finished the game as the hero with his double to give UIW their third straight conference win.
The game started as a pitcher's duel with
Geno Encina (San Antonio/Brandeis HS) and Connor Gilmore on the mound for their respective teams and they put up zeroes in the first three innings. The Bears (23-16, 13-9 SLC) scored first in the top of the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly by Brad Dillenberger. UIW responded right away in the bottom of the inning on a
Brance Kahle(Colleyville/Grapevine Faith HS) single up the middle that scored
Ethan McGill (Penn Valley, CA/Nevada Union HS). McGIll got on base with his team-high 13th double of the season.
The Cardinals then took the lead in the fifth inning. Warren led off the inning with a double, Whitehead walked and Morris drove in a run with a single. Then, Hoffman reached on a fielder's choice and drove in the Cardinals third run of the game.
Encina pitched six innings and left the game with the lead, but the bullpen gave up three runs to deny him his third win of the season. He ended up scattering four hits, one run and one walk while striking out four in a no decision.
Trevor Hardee (Alvord/Alvord HS) earned the win for UIW with 1.2 innings of relief, allowing one hit, no runs, no walks and striking out four.
The Bears bullpen also gave up a lead and Bo Stitch was tabbed with the loss and a blown save.
UIW finished the game with five runs on 13 hits and no errors, while Central Arkansas scored four runs on seven hits. Warren led the offense with a four-hit night and two runs, Kahle collected three hits and drove in a run, and Hoffman drove in three runs on one hit.
Wesley Hoover led the Bears offense with a 3-for-3 night and two runs. Dillenberger finished with three RBI's and Tyler Langley collected two hits at the top of the lineup.
Game two of the series is set for Saturday at 3:00 p.m. at Sullivan Field. The probable starting pitchers are
Garret Cooper (5-5, 3.88) for UIW and Brandon Hagerla (5-2 3.31) for UCA.
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Sam Houston State 3, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 2
HUNTSVILLE, Texas – Designated hitter Hayden Simerly batted in two runs and pitchers Andrew Godail and Alex Bisacca limited A&M-Corpus Christi to five hits as Sam Houston defeated the Islanders 3-2 in the opening contest of a three-game Southland Conference weekend series Friday night at Don Sanders Stadium.
Simerly went 2-for-4 at the plate. Shortstop Mile Manning was 2-for-3 and brought in the third Kat run. Right fielder Travis Lee was 2-for-4 and scoring two runs.
The victory upped Sam Houston to 25-22 for the year and 14-8 in Southland Conference play. The Islanders fell to 20-22 overall and 10-12 in the league.
Godail (3-5) spread four hits over seven and two-thirds innings. He struck out 10 of the 30 batters he faced. Bisacca picked up his second save of the season, getting the final four outs, three of which were strike outs.
Second baseman Jake MacWilliam kept his hitting streak alive at 10, going 1-for-3 in the contest.
Sam Houston struck quickly, scoring a run in each of the first two innings. Right fielder Travis Lee singled to lead off the bottom of the opening frame. Lee was bunted to second by Colt Atwood and scored on a single to center field by designate hitter Hayden Simerly.
Shortstop Miles Manning singled to right field to score Bryce Johnson who doubled to give Sam Houston a 2-0 lead. The Kats left two runners stranded in both the fourth and fifth innings as both squads put zeros on the board for the next four innings.
Lee led off the bottom of the seventh with a double down the right field line. Simerly again brought in the run, this time with a shot up the middle to give Sam Houston a 3-0 lead.
Kyle Danford singled to score two runs with two outs in the top of the eighth inning. Alex Bisacca, who replaced Godail with runners on second and third, ended the inning with a strike out with Sam Houston leading 3-2.
Sam Houston and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi will play the second game of the series at 3 p.m. Saturday.
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Abilene Christian 8, New Orleans 6
NEW ORLEANS, La. – Nothing has come easy in this 2015 baseball season for the Abilene Christian Wildcats. So it’s fitting that a history-making win for head coach Britt Bonneau would go right down to the wire.
The Wildcats rallied from a 6-2 deficit going to the seventh inning to take an 8-6 win over New Orleans, recording the 700th victory in Bonneau’s 19 seasons as a head coach, all of which have come at ACU. The Wildcats scored five runs in the seventh and one more in the top of the ninth to pick up the come-from-behind win.
Bonneau is now 700-391-1 in his career with the Wildcats, and while Friday night’s victory at Maestri Field isn’t the most important of his tenure, it does put him in select company in NCAA baseball ranks. He is the 77th active coach in all of NCAA collegiate baseball (Divisions I, II and III) to reach 700 career victories.
Like many of their games this season, the Wildcats had to battle back from an early deficit as starting pitcher Drew Hanson lasted just two innings, giving up three runs and six hits before being lifted from the game. The relief quartet of Joe Gawrieh, Aaron Mason, Brandon Lambright and Nate Cole held the Privateers to eight hits and three runs over the final seven innings of the game to give the Wildcats’ offense a chance.
ACU trailed 6-2 entering the seventh, but with one out and Tyler Eager on first after a single, Heath Beasley doubled to left field to drive in Eager to make it 6-3. After an out by Marcelle Carter, Russell Crippen reached on an infield single, driving in Beasley to make it 6-4. Colton Hall then singled and then Alex Copeland and Kyle Carroll each walked, the latter of which drove in Crippen to make it 6-5.
Wildcat leadoff hitter Aaron Draper then hit the first pitch he saw toward first baseman Preston Marsh, who booted the ball for UNO’s third error of the night. The error allowed both Copeland and Hall to score to give the Wildcats a 7-6 lead, their first of the night.
Lambright then took the hill and pitched a 1-2-3 seventh before giving way to Cole, who pitched the final two innings without giving up a run. ACU got a run in the ninth when Carroll walked, went to second on a Draper single and scored on an RBI single to left field by Jordan Forrester. That made it an 8-6 game, and Cole closed it out in the ninth with a 1-2-3 inning for his first save of the season. The Wildcats’ rally made a winner out of Mason, who picked up his first win of the year to improve to 1-7 on the year.
The win pushes the Wildcats to 11-31 on the season and 9-13 in the Southland Conference, while the Privateers fall to 14-31 and 3-19. The series will resume Saturday at 1 p.m. with Bonneau looking to get moving toward win No. 800.
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Southeastern Louisiana 3, Lamar 0
HAMMOND, La. – Tate Scioneaux fanned a career-high 11 batters en route to tossing the first shutout of his career as Southeastern Louisiana defeated Lamar, 6-0, Friday at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field and clinched a spot in the 2015 Southland Conference Tournament.
Southeastern (34-13, 18-4 Southland) will have the opportunity to defend its 2014 tournament title, May 20-23, at Constellation Field in Sugar Land, Texas. With the win, the Lions moved 10 games in front of Lamar (19-26, 8-14 Southland).
Up until the fifth inning Scioneaux (7-2) and Lamar starter Chase Angelle (5-5) were locked in a scoreless duel, but Chris Eades broke open the game with his fourth home run of the season. The three-run blast to left-center field drove in Kennon Menard and Julian Service.
Following the homer, Scioneaux took control. The junior right-hander from Reserve, Louisiana, fanned eight of the final 10 batters in the game.
Southeastern added three more runs in the seventh to give Scioneaux some working room. Brett Hoffman and Menard knocked back-to-back singles to open the frame. Service followed with a double to drive in Hoffman.
Jacob Seward, who earlier in the game extended his hitting streak to 24-consecutive games, drove in a pair with a two-out single.
With the win, Scioneaux now has 21 victories in his career and moves into a tie for sixth place with former Major Leaguer and Australian Olympian Jeff Williams on the Lions' career list. He also sits fifth all-time in strikeouts (238) and innings pitched (292.1).
Menard (2-for-4), Service (2-for-3) and Seward (2-for-4) led Southeastern at the plate.
The Lions will send junior right-hander Jake Johnson (8-1, 2.94) to the mound Saturday at 2 p.m. in the second game of the series. He matches up against Lamar righty Collin Chapman (0-0, 2.35).
Saturday's game will feature Bingo at the Ballpark. Baseball-themed bingo cards will be given out to all fans and students. Prizes will be awarded to the first 20 fans with bingo. The first participant to produce an "S" on their bingo card will receive $100.
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 on LionVision, Southeastern's subscription-based video stream.
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Notre Dame 4, Northwestern State 1
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Two was the magic number for the Notre Dame offense Friday night against Northwestern State.
The Irish connected on seven doubles – none bigger than back-to-back, two-out two baggers in the fifth inning – and grabbed a 4-1 victory in the opener of a three-game non-conference series at Jake Kline Field at Frank Eck Stadium.
“Not just two-out hits but two-strike hits,” third-year head coach Lane Burroughs said. “We’re not putting people away, and that’s the disappointing thing. You’ve got guys eating out of your hand, and we’re giving up too much hard contact with two strikes. Whoever it is, we have to be better. With two strikes, we have to put people away.”
The Demons (24-19) took a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Garrett Logan led off with a double against Notre Dame starter Scott Kerrigan (3-4). In the first plate appearance of his career, Kwan Adkins laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Logan to third.
An RBI groundout by Joel Atkinson put the Demons up on the Irish (30-16).
Lane Richards tied the game with a solo home run in the fourth off Adam Oller (6-3), who was on the verge of working out of a fifth-inning jam.
With a runner on second base and two outs, Oller fell behind Cavan Biggio 3-1 and intentionally walked the Irish leadoff man. Oller then threw two curveballs to go ahead of Kyle Fiala 0-2.
Fiala fouled off the first 0-2 pitch before splitting the gap in left-center field for a two-run double that put Notre Dame ahead to stay. Robert Youngdahl followed with an RBI double on a 1-2 pitch to make it 4-1.
The three-run inning was enough for Kerrigan, who scattered three hits in eight innings, allowing one run while walking two and striking out three.
“Early on, advantage counts for us, we had too much soft contact,” Burroughs said. “Whether we popped it up or had a big hop to the pull side, in advantage counts we were not competitive offensively. We never pressured the guy.”
Kerrigan did not allow a hit after Caleb Dugas’ fourth-inning single. Northwestern State put together a ninth-inning rally that included Dugas’ second hit of the game and a Cort Brinson single that extended his hitting streak to 25 games, three shy of the school record set by Eric DeBlanc in 2010.
“I’m proud of Kwanstan Adkins – he had three quality at-bats, laid down a key sacrifice bunt for us,” Burorughs said. “He hit the ball hard pullside and made a couple of nice plays defensively. We did some things good. We’re playing a good ball club, a regional-type club. It’s the small things (that hurt us), not putting people away with two strikes. We walk Biggio because we go 3-1 and have a base open. Then we go 0-2 on a guy, and he laces a double. That can’t happen.”
The series continues Saturday at 1:05 p.m. Central Daylight Time. Northwestern State will send right-hander Josh Oller (7-1, 4.32) to the mound against Notre Dame right-hander Brandon Bielak (4-1, 3.34). The game will be broadcast on KZBL 100.7 in Natchitoches, the flagship station of the Demon Sports Network. Patrick Netherton will deliver the play-by-play call of the game.
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