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HAMMOND - The Lions could not hold 1-0 lead as the Colonels tied things up on a double-steal in the eighth, but the Southeastern Louisiana Univeristy baseball team (31-17, 18-9 Southland Conference) prevailed anyway as freshman shortstop Justin Boudreaux singled home sophomore first baseman Joe Sparacino with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to give the Lions a 2-1 walk-off victory over Nicholls State (18-28, 8-19 SLC).
Sunday's win at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field completed a three-game sweep of the Colonels and extended Southeastern's winning streak to a season-best eight games. The Lions are just two wins shy of the school record of ten straight wins set from April 2-15, 1997.
The Lions struck first as a pitchers' duel broke out between Ryan Cooper of Nicholls State and Southeastern left handed starter
Brian McCants.
Southeastern managed to push a run across in the bottom of the third thanks to an RBI groundout by sophomore center fielder
Cass Hargis.
However, that's all the Lions would manage against Nicholls State in the first eight innings. Cooper held Southeastern to one unearned run on eight hits while walking two and striking out two over six innings of work.
Fortunately, for the Lions, McCants was up to the task. The Slidell native became just the second Lion pitcher to strike out ten batters in a game this season (junior right hander
Ryan Boudreaux struck out 14 at Texas-San Antonio on March 1) by punching out ten Colonels and holding Nicholls State scoreless over 6.1 innings. McCants allowed just three base hits and two walks.
After allowing a leadoff base hit and a sacrifice bunt, McCants turned a 1-0 lead over to senior right hander
Ryan Collins in the seventh. Collins came on to strikeout Colonel pinch-hitter Tyler Minto and sophomore catcher
Josh Cryer gunned down Jason Dennis on an attempted steal of third for an inning-ending double play.
However, the Colonels would rally in the top of the eighth as shortstop Brady Bourque doubled to lead things off. Collins struck out the next two batters, but Bourque took third on a wild pitch and a walk to Josh Swenson put runners at the corners.
Junior right hander
Chris Franklin came on to try to close things out. However, the Colonels engineered a delayed double-steal as Swenson's delayed steal of second drew a throw from Franklin and Bourque beat the throw home to tie the score at 1-1.
After the Lion lineup came away empty-handed in the bottom of the eighth and Franklin retired the Colonels in order in the top of the ninth, the Lions looked to avoid extra innings in the bottom half of the final frame.
After junior right fielder Philip Freeman flew out to right to lead off the inning, Sparacino was hit by a pitch to put the winning run on base. Freshman designated hitter
Cody Gougler moved Sparacino to second on a groundout to bring Boudreaux to the plate.
The Dutchtown High School product worked a 3-1 count before lining a shot up the middle. Sparacino rounded third and slid around the tag at the plate for the 2-1 win.
The Lions will return to action on Tuesday when they conclude their non-conference schedule with a midweek contest at Alcorn State.
Southeastern returns home on Friday to wrap up their home schedule with a three-game set against SLC rival Stephen F. Austin.
With first-place Texas State winning at Texas-San Antonio on Sunday, the second-place Lions remain 2.5 games behind the Bobcats for the top spot in the SLC standings.
