Baseball: May 10 Scoreboard
Northwestern State 6, Abilene Christian 4
Lamar 9, Stephen F. Austin 8
Southeastern Louisiana 11, Central Arkansas 5
Nicholls 6, New Orleans 0
Northwestern State 6, Abilene Christian 4
ABILENE, Texas – If beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder, the Northwestern State baseball team has no preference for how its wins look.
After a fast start, the Demons offense slowed some Sunday, but an Abilene Christian throwing error allowed Northwestern State to complete a three-game Southland Conference sweep of the Wildcats with a 6-4 Mother’s Day victory at Crutcher Scott Field.
The win was Northwestern State’s fifth in a row, pushing the Demons to a season-best 10 games over .500 (29-19) and improved them to 19-7 in Southland Conference play, keeping pace with league-leading Southeastern Louisiana.
Chase Daughdrill’s RBI triple and an RBI groundout by Caleb Dugas put the Demons up 2-0 in the first inning, but that proved to be the Demons best offensive inning against ACU starter Garrett deMeyere (3-5).
NSU added a single run in the fourth off deMeyere, as C.J. Webster singled home Dugas, who singled and stole second.
Up 3-0, Demons right-hander Jeffrey Stovall (6-4) cruised through five shutout innings before the Wildcats (13-34, 11-16) broke through with a two-run sixth inning.
Stovall recovered to preserve the lead and delivered a quality start of 6 2-3 innings and two earned runs. Stovall struck out seven batters against just one walk, the second-highest strikeout total of the season for the junior.
After ACU cut into the Demons lead, Northwestern State put the pressure back on the Wildcats in the seventh.
C.J. Webster (single) and Nick Heath (walk) reached to start the inning, leading Garrett Logan to lay down a sacrifice bunt. Logan dropped the bunt down the third-base line where ACU reliever Kevin Sheets fielded it and threw wildly into foul territory down the left-field line.
Webster and Heath scored easily and Joel Atkinson drove home Logan with a sacrifice fly to put the Demons up 6-2.
Webster finished 3-for-4 with an RBI and went 8-for-15 as the Demons swept their second Southland Conference road series of the season. It was part of a busy weekend for Webster, who was one of six Demons players who received their undergraduate degrees in a ceremony Saturday night that included a visit from NSU President Dr. Jim Henderson.
The Demons were unable to fully relax, as Abilene scored single runs in the seventh and ninth innings to cut NSU’s lead to two. After a three-base error allowed Kyle Carroll to reach third with one out in the ninth, Burroughs summoned closer Brandon Smith to record the final two outs.
Smith did, throwing five pitches some 25 hours after throwing 61 pitches to earn the win in the suspended Friday opener. Smith got the final two outs to collect his ninth save of the season, moving him into a fourth-place tie on the Demons single-season list.
Cort Brinson, who set the NSU hit streak record by hitting safely in his 29
th straight game Saturday, saw his streak end Sunday in an 0-for-4 performance that included a couple of hard-hit outs to left field.
The Demons wrap up their 10-game, three-week road trip with a midweek game at Louisiana Tech on Tuesday. It will be the final midweek game of the season for the Demons, who conclude the regular-season with a three-game home series against Nicholls from Thursday-Saturday.
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Lamar 9, Stephen F. Austin 8
BEAUMONT, Texas - Behind Will Hibbs and three seniors, the Lamar baseball team overcame a 5-0 deficit, avoided the sweep, and snapped an eight-game skid with a 9-8 win in 10 innings over Stephen F. Austin in the final home game of the season for the Cardinals at Vincent-Beck Stadium in Southland Conference action.
Stephen F. Austin (17-34, 11-18) jumped out to a 5-0 lead after two innings, and by the eighth inning the Cardinals (20-30, 9-18) tied it a 7-7. After neither team scored in the ninth, the Lumberjacks added one in the top of the 10th. Lamar responded with a bases-loaded single through the left side from Jake Nash to tie it, and Brandon Provost "took one for the team" to end it.
Brendan Satran, who was 2-for-3 on the day, started the bottom of the 10th with a single to the shortstop, and stole second after SFA recorded the lone out of the inning. Back-to-back walks issued to Reed Seeley-who was 2-of-4 on the day- and Stijn van der Meer loaded the bases for Lamar.
Van der Meer finished his day with his team-leading 23rd multi-hit game of the year after he notched three hits in five at-bats with a run scored and knocked in. Provost (3-of-4) and Seeley finished with multiple hit games in their final contest at Vincent-Beck Stadium.
Mason Salazar was 2-of-6 with a run scored and driven in and Kevin Santana pushed one across on his base knock. Both also played their final game at The Beck.
Will Hibbs (2-1) took the win on six inning of work in relief. He surrendered two runs on three hits and two walks. He gave up a run in the fifth on a bases loaded walk, but after the free pass he sat down 14 in a row.
Eric Foshee started the game and worked 1.2 frames with five runs allowed on five hits and a walk. The freshman gave up two runs in the first and three in the second before southpaw Travis Moore relieved him in the second.
Lamar scored three in the third inning to cut the lead to 5-3. Salazar got it started with a one-out triple to the right field wall, and scored on a sacrifice fly to right from Seeley. With two outs, van der Meer singled and Nash walked before two-straight singles from Provost and Santana drove them in.
SFA added another in the top of the fourth to make it 6-3, but Lamar cut the lead to one with a couple in the bottom of the frame. Freshman CJ Moore, who scored the eventual tying run in the eighth, started the inning after being hit by a pitch. Satran sacrificed to get him to second, and Moore took third on a wild pitch before Salazar scored him on a groundout.
Again with two outs, Seeley doubled to right center and scored on a RBI-single from van der Meer to left field.
SFA made it 7-5 in the fifth, but Lamar scored on in the sixth on a groundout RBI and RBI-single in the eighth- both RBIs belong to Reed Seeley. The sixth inning run was Satran, who reached on a double, and the eighth inning run was Moore, who reached on a walk.
Hibbs sat down the Jacks 1-2-3 in the ninth, and Cardinals loaded the bases with no outs and Cutter McDowell at the plate. McDowell rolled over to the third baseman for a 5-2-3 double play, and SFA finished off the inning without a run.
Nash finished the day with a hit in three at-bats and three walks on the day. The junior knocked in one and scored one. Seven Cardinals in the starting lineup recorded hits, and five had multi-hit days.
LU's 14 hits were the most it had since the Cards notched 15 at Baylor on April 21st.
Lamar will close out its season at Sam Houston State in a three-game series, starting on Thursday at 6:30 in Huntsville. The second game of the series is slated to start at 6:30 p.m. on Friday and the finale at 1p.m. Sunday.
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Southeastern Louisiana 11, Central Arkansas 5
HAMMOND, La.
– Carson Crites and Daniel Midyett smashed back-to-back home runs in a six-run fourth inning as Southeastern Louisiana powered past Central Arkansas, 11-5, in Southland Conference play Sunday at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field.
Southeastern (38-15, 22-5 Southland) rebounded after having its 12-game conference winning streak snapped to take the series from Central Arkansas (24-21, 14-13 Southland). The 22 Southland wins are a school record.
The Lions sprinted out to a 10-0 lead before Central Arkansas broke onto the scoreboard.
With one out in the second inning, Bears starting pitcher Chris Caudle (0-1) hit Julian Service with a pitch, one of four batters he would hit in the game. Ryan Byers followed with a double to left field, putting both in scoring position. Service scored on a wild pitch and Byers scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Brooks Morse.
Service drew a walk to lead off the fourth and stole second base, one of six stolen bases the Lions had in the game. After Jacob Seward was hit by a pitch Carson Crites cranked his first home run at Southeastern, putting the Lions up, 5-0.
Daniel Midyett jumped on the very next pitch from Caudle and crushed it out of the park to right-center, giving Southeastern back-to-back home runs for the second time this season.
Following the home runs, Kevin Carr was hit by a pitch and Brett Hoffman reached on a throwing error by Caudle that put both runners in scoring position. Chris Eades greeted reliever Tyler Gray with a two-run single to center, putting the Lions up 8-0 through four innings.
Southeastern added single runs in the fifth and sixth innings.
Carr led off the sixth with a single up the middle and advanced to second on Hoffman's single to center. The base hit was the 200
th of Hoffman's career, placing him one back of Joe Labruzzo who is seventh on the Lions' all-time hits list. Carr would score on Service's one-out single through the left side.
The Bears got to Kyle Cedotal for a pair of runs in the seventh on a two-run homer by Logan Preston, a transfer from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Central Arkansas added three more runs in the eighth.
Southeastern picked up its final run in the eighth as Service and Byers executed a double steal with runners on the corners, allowing Service to score from third.
Cedotal (8-2) earned the win for Southeastern and Caudle, the first of five Central Arkansas hurlers, was charged with the loss. Kyle Keller tossed the final two innings for Southeastern.
Byers (2-for-5), Carr (2-for-4) and Seward (2-for-4) led the Lions at the plate. Service (1-for-1) reached base all five time he came to the plate, drawing three walks in addition to being hit by a pitch, scored four runs and stole three bases. Every member of the Lions' starting lineup recorded at least one hit.
Southeastern wraps up the regular season this coming week with a split series against the University of New Orleans. The series will be played Thursday (6:30 p.m.) and Saturday (1 p.m.) in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Friday (6 p.m.) in Hammond for Senior Day.
The Lions' magic number to clinch the regular-season title sits at one. Either a Southeastern victory or a loss by Northwestern State (29-19, 19-7 Southland) will allow the Lions to clinch their first Southland regular-season championship. Southeastern is already assured of a spot in the conference tournament scheduled for May 20-23 at Constellation Field in Sugar Land, Texas.
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Nicholls 6, New Orleans 0
THIBODAUX, La. – The Nicholls State University baseball team celebrated Senior Day and Mother’s Day by completing a three-game sweep of New Orleans with a 6-0 shutout in the finale at Ray E. Didier Field, earning their eighth consecutive win.
A Runaway candidate for Southland Conference Pitcher of the Year, Justin Sinibaldi (10-1) was dominant again from the mound, tossing seven innings and allowing seven hits with four strikeouts. Kyle Reese improved his league-leading batting average to .378 on Sunday with a double and a triple, extending his current hitting streak to 15 games.
The Colonels (32-16-1, 17-10 SLC) wasted no time before exploding for four quick runs in the firth inning. Justin Holt led off with a walk, stole second and advanced to third when the catcher’s throw sailed into center field. A Darius Knight single up the middle sent Holt home. Knight stole second, before Tanner Vandevere was hit by a pitch. Knight and Vandevere successfully executed a double steal, advancing to third and second, before Justin Smith crushed a double down the right field line, scoring the pair. Smith advanced to third on a ground out and came home on a Christian Correa single to left.
Nicholls threatened to increase their lead in the fourth, loading the bases with no outs, but the Privateers (14-35, 3-24 SLC) earned a force out at home before turning a double play to escape the inning unscathed.
The Colonels picked up a run in the fifth inning when Reese blasted a triple that rolled deep into the right field corner and a Vandevere ground out sent him home.
Nicholls added a run in the sixth to grab a 6-0 advantage. David Zorn reached on a fielder’s choice and advanced after Joey Morales walked. The Colonels implemented their second successful double steal of the game, before a Holt sacrifice fly scored Zorn.
In relief of Sinibaldi, Robbie Petty tossed a one-hit eighth inning for Nicholls. Marc Frazier closed out the contest, allowing one hit while fanning two batters in the final frame.
Jordan Priddle (4-5) took the loss, allowing six runs on eight hits through 5 2/3 innings of work.
Smith led Nicholls offensively with a 2-for-4 day, two RBIs and a run scored. Correa went 2-for-2 with an RBI and Knight hit 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run.
Ryan Calloway paced New Orleans offensively, going 4-for-5 in the loss.
The Colonels’ senior class was recognized prior the game and all eight mothers of senior players tossed out an honorary first pitch.
Nicholls will host Louisiana-Lafayette at 6 p.m. on Tuesday before concluding the regular season with a three-game conference series on the road against Northwestern State over the weekend. All four matchups will be broadcast live on KTIB 640 AM.
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