Box Score Box Score
HAMMOND – Jeff Harkensee belted a two-run home run in the first inning as Southeastern Louisiana built a six-run lead and held off in-state rival Louisiana-Lafayette, 7-5, Wednesday night at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field.
Justin Boudreaux went 2-for-5 for Southeastern (9-4) while freshman
Britt Gautreaux drove in a pair of runs.
Jordan Hymel (2-1) pitched 5.1 innings and scattered four hits for Southeastern before three relievers combined to hold ULL (7-5) to two hits the final 3.2 innings.
Alex Fuselier gave the Ragin Cajuns a 1-0 lead in the first inning when he homered to right field – the first home run allowed by Southeastern pitchers in 107.1 innings on the season.
ULL's lead would be short-lived as
Jonathan Pace hit a one-out double and Harkensee lined the first pitch from pitcher Joe Zimmerman (0-2) just inside the right-field foul pole for a 2-1 lead.
Southeastern added a pair of unearned runs in the fourth inning as Gautreaux drove in Harkensee on a sacrifice fly and
Brock Hebert followed with an RBI single up the middle to drive in
Josh Cryer.
The Lions added three more unearned runs in the fifth for a 7-1 lead when Cryer lined a Zimmerman pitch inside the third-base line to score
Cass Hargis, Harkensee scored on a two-out error and Gautreaux singled up the middle to score Cryer.
The Cajuns cut the lead to 7-3 in the sixth on Jordan Poirrier's two-run single off Hymel before cutting the lead to 7-5 in the seventh when Mike Petrello hit a two-run single off
Jacob Ott to left to drive in Chris Sinclair and Matt Goulas.
Jason Greenleaf pitched a scoreless eighth for the Lions before
Stefan Lopez pitched the ninth to earn his third save of the year.
Harkensee went 2-for-4 for Southeastern and scored three runs while Pace extended his hitting streak to 10 games. Hebert went 1-for-3 for the Lions, who collected nine hits off three ULL pitchers, while adding a pair of stolen bases.
Ryan Leonards went 2-for-4 at the plate to lead ULL. Zimmerman allowed seven runs, two earned, on six hits in 4.2 innings. Blake Wascom and Matt Hicks allowed three hits over the final 3.1 innings for the Cajuns.
Southeastern will return to action on Friday when it opens Southland Conference play at UTSA in a 6 p.m. contest. The Lions and Roadrunners will continue the series on Saturday at 2 p.m. before concluding Sunday at 1.
Louisiana-Lafayette. 100 002 200 - 5 6 4 (7-5)
Southeastern La..... 200 230 00x - 7 9 1 (9-4)
Zimmermann, Wascom (5), Hicks (7) and Sinclair. Hymel, Ott (6), Greenleaf (8), Lopez (9) and Cryer. W – Hymel (2-1). Sv. – Lopez (3). L – Zimmermann (0-2). E – Petello (1), Poirrier (5), Fontenot (6), Sinclair (1), Boudreaux (7). DP - SLU 1. LOB - UL 7, SLU 9. 2B – Pace (3), Boudreaux (6), Cryer (5). HR – Fuselier (2), Harkensee (5). HBP – Cryer, Gautreaux, Hebert. SH – Pace (3), Cryer (1), Sparacino (1). SF – Gautreaux (1). SB – Hebert 2 (11). CS – Poirrier (1), Gautreaux (1), Martin (2). T - 2:39. A – 878.
