Southeastern Staff Bests Hot-Hitting Braves

Lion pitchers hold off Alcorn State's top-10 lineup in 7-3 win

Brian McCants helped his own cause, driving in two runs and earning the win on Tuesday.

Box Score

HAMMOND - The Southeastern lineup scored five times in the first three frames to get out in front, and four Lion pitchers combined to hold off a Braves' offense ranked eighth in the nation as the Southeastern Louisiana University baseball team (20-10, 10-5 SLC) picked up its 20th win of the season by way of a 7-3 win over Alcorn State (15-11) at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field on Tuesday night.

The Lions got off to a fast start, pouncing on the Braves for four runs in the bottom of the first. The top of the order got things started with consecutive singles from sophomore center fielder and leadoff man Cass Hargis, senior second baseman Ty Summerlin and senior left fielder Brandon Street.

Street's base hit brought home Hargis to put Southeastern out in front 1-0, but the Lions wouldn't stop there. Sophomore first baseman Joe Sparacino delivered an RBI single and senior pitcher Brian McCants delivered a two-run double as Southeastern claimed a 4-0 lead after one. A run scoring single from freshman shortstop Justin Boudreaux would then make it 5-0 after three.

With the Lion offense producing early, the Lion pitching staff then faced the task of finding a way to slow down an Alcorn State lineup that entered the contest with a .360 batting average, the eighth-best total in the nation.

McCants, making the first start of his NCAA Division I career, proved to be up to the task. The Slidell native kept the Braves off the board through the first four frames. McCants allowed just one hit and no walks while striking out a career-high eight batters before leaving the game after 4.0 innings while on a pitch count.

The Braves managed to close the gap to 5-3 with a three-run fifth. However, senior right handers Robert Rugg, Ryan Collins and Chris Cappo made sure that was as close as it would get.

Collins struck out three while walking just one and not giving up a hit over his 1.2 innings of work. Cappo followed with 3.0 innings of scoreless, one-hit relief while striking out five to earn his first save of the season.

In total, Lion pitching allowed just three runs on five hits while walking just two and recording a season-high 16 punchouts.

The Lions would add some insurance in the bottom of the eighth as an RBI double from Street and a run-scoring single from Sparacino provided the final 7-3 margin.

Southeastern will now return to conference action when the Lions visit the Texas State Bobcats for a three-game set beginning Thursday night in San Marcos, Texas.

Sole posession of first-place will be on the line as the two Southland Conference rivals enter the three-game series tied atop the league standings with identical 10-5 SLC records.

First pitch for Thursday's series premiere is set for 6:30 p.m. 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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