Box Score NATCHITOCHES, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana baseball team fought off an early deficit Saturday for a 7-4 Southland Conference win over Northwestern State at Brown-Stroud Field.
Southeastern (17-7, 2-0 Southland) won for the sixth time in its last seven games while the Demons (9-16, 0-2 Southland) have dropped eight in-a-row.
Northwestern State jumped on Lion starting pitcher
Tate Scioneaux for three runs in the first inning. After Toby Cornejo struck out to open the inning, Cort Brinson, Will Watson and Nick Purdy each singled. Brinson scored on Purdy's hit while Watson scored on a sacrifice fly and Purdy scored on a single by shortstop Matt Burns.
Demon starting pitcher Andrew Adams (0-3) cruised through the first three innings, retiring the first nine batters he faced, but struggled after Southeastern turned over the lineup for the first time.
The Lions started their comeback in the fourth.
Ladd Rhodes drew a lead-off walk and moved to second base on a wild pitch.
Ben Hernandez singled, putting runners on the corners for
Harry Slade. The senior center fielder doubled to right-center field, driving home Rhodes. Hernandez and Slade both scored on a double down the left-field line by
Aaron Haag to tie the game, 3-3.
Northwestern State wasted little time regaining the lead. Todd Wallace doubled to right-center leading off the fourth and moved to third on a balk, chasing Scioneaux in favor of
Kyle Cedotal (3-3). The left-hander got a ground ball to short, but Wallace scored to give the Demons a 4-3 lead.
Southeastern came right back with a pair of runs in the fifth to take its first lead of the game.
Brett Hoffman singled to open the inning and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by right fielder
Alex Marse.
Marse reached as Adams had trouble handling the bunt to the first-base side of the mound. With one out, Hernandez chopped a single up the middle for his second hit of the game to plate Hoffman and tie the game, 4-4. Moving to third, Marse scored the eventual winning run on Slade's ground out to second.
The Lions added two more runs in the sixth as Cedotal locked down the Northwestern State bats. Cedotal, a freshman from Denham Springs, La., struck out a career-high six batters in 5.1 innings of scoreless relief. He did not surrender a hit while walking and hitting one batter.
Cedotal earned the win for Southeastern while
Dylan Hills, who retired the final two batters of the game, picked up his fifth save of the season. Adams suffered the loss.
Three Lions enjoyed multi-hit games as Slade and Hoffman joined Hernandez with a pair of hits each.
Southeastern, which has picked up at least two wins each weekend in 2013, will look to sweep its fourth three-game series of the season Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.
The game can be heard in the Hammond area on KSLU-FM (90.9), on the internet through the Southeastern athletics website as well as on the KSLU iPhone and TuneIn Radio apps. Live stats, courtesy Northwestern State, will also be available. Links to audio and stats are located on the baseball schedule page at www.LionSports.net.
Southeastern returns to Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field Tuesday for a 6 p.m. game against Louisiana-Lafayette.
Southeastern La. 7, Northwestern State 4 (Mar 23, 2013 at Natchitoches, La)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Southeastern La....... 000 322 000 - 7 10 1 (17-7, 2-0 SLC)
Northwestern State.. 300 100 000 - 4 6 2 (9-16, 0-2 SLC)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pitchers: Southeastern La. - Scioneaux, Tate; Cedotal, Kyle (4); Hills, Dylan (9) and Fisher, Jameson. Northwestern State - Adams, Andrew; Krebs, Zach (6); Funk, AJ (6) and Wallace, Todd.
Win-Cedotal, Kyle (3-3) Save-Hills, Dylan (5) Loss-Adams, Andrew (0-3) T-2:50 A-174
Weather: 55 degrees, possible rain
Scioneaux, T faced 1 batter in the 4th.
