NATCHITOCHES - It was just a matter of time before Southeastern would get its bats going against top-seeded Northwestern State in the opening round of the 2005 Bellsouth Southland Conference Baseball Tournament.
And with Bernard Robert in mid-season form on the mound for the Lions, they were able to take their time.
Robert tossed a six-hit shut out and Kyle Ginn's RBI triple broke open a scoreless game in the 10th as Southeastern scored three runs in the inning and blanked the Demons, 3-0, before a crowd of 1,173 Wednesday night at Brown-Stroud Field.
Southeastern (28-29) will face third-seeded Texas State (32-25), an 8-7 loser to Texas-San Antonio at 3 p.m. on Thursday. The game can be heard in the Hammond area on KSLU-FM (90.9) and on the internet at www.LionSports.net. Northwestern State (40-17), which lost for just the third time at home in 24 games this season, will face Texas-Arlington (25-31) in a loser's bracket game at 11 a.m.
"It's nice to play in that second (3 p.m.) game," Southeastern head coach Dan Canevari said. "It gives you time to recover, but it's nice to get the win and stay out of the loser's bracket. It's very tough to win a tournament coming out of the loser's bracket.
"I'm real proud of the guys tonight. They really competed well and kept their composure against a real good team in Northwestern State. Tonight was a big win for Southeastern."
Both teams battled to a scoreless duel through the first nine innings before Southeastern broke things open in the 10th off Southland Conference Player of the Year Blake Jones (6-3). Tony Suarez led off the inning with a walk and moved to second on Gary Duhe's sacrifice bunt.
Ginn, who finished 2-for-4 for the Lions, then hit a ball to center-field that Rusty Jones was unable to catch as Suarez scored to give Southeastern a 1-0 lead. Steve Clevenger then followed with a double to left that got past a sliding Michael Palermo to put the Lions ahead, 2-0, before Ryan Spencer's RBI single through the right side gave Southeastern a 3-0 advantage.
Robert (9-4), who threw 151 pitches on the night and recorded his ninth complete game in his last 10 outings, kept Northwestern State off balance on the night as he struck out five and got Bobby Barbier to fly out after the Demons put runners on first and second with two outs. Robert set a Southland Conference single-game record with his 10-inning shutout as he led Southeastern to its first SLC Tournament win in three tries.
Southeastern, which snapped an eight-game losing streak in the postseason dating back to 1994, loaded the bases in the first inning with three walks off NSU starter Daniel Lonsberry. But Lonsberry got out of the inning as he fanned Randy Roth, got Spencer to pop out to second and fanned Jason Waguespack to end the inning.
The Lions, who stranded 10 runners on base, added two runners in the second after Rob Territo singled and moved to third on Suarez's one-out double to left. Lonsberry, who went 7.1 innings and fanned six, got the Demons out of the jam as he struck out Duhe and Ginn to end the inning.
Rusty Jones led Northwestern State with two hits while Brandon Morgan added a double. Blake Jones, who went 0-for-4 at the plate with a walk, went 2.2 innings on the mound and allowed three hits with two strikeouts.
Southeastern La..... 000 000 000 3 - 3 8 0 (28-29)
Northwestern State.. 000 000 000 0 - 0 6 0 (40-17)
Bernard Robert and Randy Roth. Daniel Lonsberry; Blake Jones (8) and Marty Dewees. W - Robert (9-4). L - Jones (6-3). 2B - Ginn (8), Clevenger (11), Suarez (4), Morgan (15). 3B - Ginn (3). T - 2:45. A - 1,173.
