Lions Rally for Sweep of McNeese

Cats come back to finish off Cowboys

Cody Gougler drove in the game-winning run and extended his hitting streak to ten games.

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HAMMOND - Freshman designated hitter Cody Gougler extended his hitting streak to ten games while driving in a game-winning run, and senior right hander Ryan Collins picked up a win with 4.0 innings of shutout relief as the Southeastern Louisiana University baseball team (10-6, 4-2 Southland Conference) finished off a 13-3 suspended game victory before rallying for a 7-5 win to ensure a sweep of the McNeese State Cowboys (9-7, 1-5 SLC) on Sunday.

The three-game sweep of the intrastate rival Cowboys gave the Lions their first series sweep since taking three from Eastern Illinois to open the 2008 season (Feb. 22-24, 2008). The weekend also saw Southeastern claim its first series sweep of a conference foe since taking three from Nicholls State to finish the 2007 season (May 17-19, 2007).

"Our guys did a great job swinging the bats all weekend, and our pitchers did a great job keeping us in the game against a very strong offensive club," head coach Jay Artigues said. "This win was important. The Southland Conference season is going to be competitive every weekend, so I'm pleased that our guys kept their foot on the gas all weekend long, because we can't let up during the conference season."

The day began with the completion of game two. After two rain delays totaling one hour and 42 minutes worth of delays prompted the suspension of Saturday's game, the Lions picked up where they left off on Saturday.

Southeastern started Sunday with an 11-3 lead in the top of the seventh. Freshman right hander Justin Schneider started the day for the Lions by coming on in relief of sophomore right hander Brandon Efferson.

Schneider contributed 1.2 innings of scorless, one-hit relief to keep the Cowboys off the board in the seventh and eighth.

Meanwhile, the Lions finished things off in the eighth as Gougler notched an RBI single, and sophomore first baseman Joe Sparacino drove in his fourth run of the game on a sacrifice fly to give Southeastern a 13-3 lead and invoke the SLC's ten-run rule.

However, the Lions would find themselves in a tougher test in the finale of the three-game set.

Once again, a potent Cowboy offense that boasted a .332 team batting average entering the contest, struck first. McNeese State tallied three in the top of the second and got a solo homer from Shon Landry in the third, but the Lions rallied with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second to make it 4-2 after three.

After a scoreless fourth, the Lions got into a jam in the top of the fifth. After a pair of groundouts to start the inning, McNeese catcher Taylor Freeman reached and advanced to second on a Lion error, prompting Artigues to replace freshman right handed starter Josh Janway with Collins.

Collins got into trouble by walking the first three batters he faced to force in a run that put the Lions down 5-2, but recorded a pop out to center to limit the damage with Southeastern down three after four and a half.

Southeastern responded to the tune of two runs on four hits in the bottom of the fifth to make it 5-4, and Collins pitched out of a bases-loaded jam again in the sixth to keep Southeastern within one.

Collins, a Chalmette native, found his stride and kept McNeese off the baord in the seventh and eighth while the Lions mounted yet another rally in the bottom of the seventh as a pair of Lion base hits and two costly McNeese errors staked the Lions to a lead they would not relinquish.

Senior right fielder Brian McCants tied things up with an RBI fielders choice, and Gougler's run-scoring single put Southeastern ahead 6-5 after seven. An RBI double by senior left-fielder Brandon Street gave the Lions some breathing room as senior shortstop Ty Summerlin scored to make it 7-5.

The Cowboys refused to go quietly in the ninth as McNeese State threatened in the final frame. After Collins induced a fly out to right and caught Lee Orr looking for the first two outs of the inning, a hit-by-pitch and a two-out single put runners at the corners.

Artigues went to the bullpen one more time, as senior right hander Chris Franklin moved over from third base to coax a pop fly to center Jace Peterson to preserve the 7-5 win for the Lions.

Southeastern will return to action on Tuesday when they visit Tulane before hosting the Green Wave at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field in Hammond on Wednesday. First pitch for each game of the home-and-home series is slated for 6 p.m. Both contests can be heard on KSLU 90.9 FM in Hammond, and live stats and streaming audio play-by-play will be available online at www.LionSports.net.

NOTES

After falling behind 3-0 in the first in game two and 3-0 in the second in game three, the Lions have now come-from-behind in all ten of their wins this year.

Lion skipper Jay Artigues picked up his 98th and 99th wins as Southeastern head coach. Artigues will try to become just the fourth skipper in Lion baseball history with triple-digit wins when he goes for win 100 at Tulane on Tuesday.

All-Time Head Coach Wins List:

Greg Marten (1991-2002) 348
Pat Kenelly (1951-64) 211
John Stephenson (1985-90) 162
Jay Artigues (2006-pres.) 99

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Lions Rally for Sweep of McNeese

Cats come back to finish off Cowboys