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Randy Bergeron / Southeastern Louisiana University

Baseball 4/23/2009 7:22:53 PM

Lions Look to Climb Southland Standings Against Rival Bearkats

Southeastern hopes to gain ground at Sam Houston State

Sophomore center fielder Cass Hargis will try to spark the Lion offense past Sam Houston State.

HAMMOND - After coming up short in a pair of nailbiting contests, the Southeastern Louisiana University baseball team (23-17, 12-9 Southland Conference) look to snap a brief two-game losing streak and gain ground in the league standings when the Lions return to SLC action at Sam Houston State (28-13, 14-7 SLC) for a three-game set beginning on Friday.

The Lions enter game one after dropping a pair of 6-5 contests in Baton Rouge during midweek play. On Tuesday, Southeastern led early against No. 6 LSU, but the Tigers rallied with a five-run third inning to take the lead. The Lions threatened in the ninth with the tying run at third and two outs, but sophomore catcher Josh Cryer was called out at first base by a hair for the final out.

On Wednesday, Southeastern returned to Baton Rouge to face SWAC power Southern. Southeastern rallied from an early 1-0 deficit to take a 4-2 lead after five and a half innings. Unfortunately, Southern scored four times in the bottom of the sixth en route to a 6-5 win.

The Lions know they have their work cut out for them as they look to climb from their fourth-place rung in the Southland Conference. Southeastern currently sits two games behind second-place Sam Houston State, and the Bearkats enter Friday night with a head of steam after a win over No. 9 Baylor on Tuesday night.

Southeastern will send staff ace Ryan Boudreaux to the mound in game one. The junior right hander sports a 5-2 record and leads the Southland Conference in opponent batting average (.241) and currently ranks seventh in ERA (3.67) and tenth in strikeouts (43).

Boudreaux will be the first Lion pitcher to try his hand against a Bearkat team that leads the conference with a .341 team batting average. The Sam Houston State lineup is led by SLC hits leader Braeden Riley as well as Nick Zaleski (third in RBI with 51) and Justin Keithly (third in runs with 47).

While the Southeastern pitching staff will be charged with trying to shut down the Bearkats, the Lion lineup will try to take advantage of a Sam Houston pitching staff with a team ERA of 5.80.

Sophomore center fielder Cass Hargis enters Friday night 11th in the league in runs (42) and hits (56), and senior left fielder Brandon Street ranks sixth in the league with 41 RBI.

The Lions and Bearkats will open their three-game series on Friday night with a 6:30 p.m. first pitch at Don Sanders Stadium in Huntsville, Texas.

Live stats and streaming audio play-by-play will be available online at www.LionSports.net, and the game can be heard in the Hammond area on KSLU 90.9 FM.

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