Box Score HAMMOND, La. – Down 5-2 in the seventh inning Thursday, the Southeastern Louisiana University baseball team rallied for seven runs in a 9-6, comeback win against Nicholls State at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field.
Southeastern (19-8, 4-0 Southland) stayed undefeated in Southland Conference play with the win, knocking off Nicholls (14-13, 1-3 Southland) in the first game of a conference series for the first time since 2009.
Having scored their first two runs of the game in the sixth, the Lions sent 10 batters to the plate in the seventh.
Brett Hoffman drew a lead-off walk from Colonel starting pitcher Mike Suk and moved to second base on
Gabe Woods' single to left. A walk to
Ladd Rhodes loaded the bases and forced Nicholls into its bullpen.
After striking out
Ben Hernandez for the first out of the inning and jumping ahead of
Harry Slade with a pair of strikes, reliever Marc Picciola (0-2) snapped off a pair of wild pitches to plate Hoffman and Woods. Slade then singled up the middle to score Rhodes and tie the game, 5-5.
Aaron Haag followed with a single through the left side of the Colonel infield. After
Jameson Fisher's ground out to short moved both runners into scoring position with two outs,
Sam Roberson drove in Slade and Haag with a single up the middle.
Roberson, who earlier in the game extended his hitting streak to 17 games, scored on
Jesse Buratt's double to left and Buratt scored on Hoffman's single to left-center field. The seven runs are the most Southeastern has scored in a single inning this season.
Nicholls loaded the bases in the ninth, bringing the potential tying run to the plate with no outs. Freshman
Mason Klotz caught Colonel second baseman Philip Lyons looking at a called third strike for the first out. Brandon Jackson drove in the game's final run with a sacrifice fly to left and left fielder Keith Cormier grounded out to second for the final out.
Klotz earned his third save of the season, nailing it down for left-hander
Kyle Cedotal (4-3). The freshman southpaw from Denham Springs, La., earned his second-straight win in long relief. Picciola suffered the loss.
Friday, Southeastern and Nicholls will travel to Thibodaux, La., where the Colonels will host the middle game of the series at Ray E. Didier Field. Lion freshman right-hander
Tate Scioneaux (3-0, 3.18) draws senior right-hander Kory Delange (4-2, 2.97) on the mound.
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, as well as a live video stream through LionVision, will be available. Links to audio, stats and video are located on the baseball schedule page at www.LionSports.net.
Saturday, the series finale returns to Southeastern's campus at 2 p.m.
Southeastern La. 9, Nicholls State 6 (Mar 28, 2013 at Hammond, La.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Nicholls State.......... 004 010 001 - 6 10 3 (14-13, 1-3 SLC)
Southeastern La..... 000 002 70X - 9 14 1 (19-8, 4-0 SLC)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pitchers: Nicholls State - Suk, Mike; Picciola, Marc (7); McCoy, Jordan (7) and Dufrene, Cody. Southeastern La. - Kennel, Sean; Cedotal, Kyle (3); Hills, Dylan (8); Klotz, Mason (9) and Roberson, Sam.
Win-Cedotal, Kyle (4-3) Save-Klotz, Mason (3) Loss-Picciola, Marc (0-2) T-2:32 A-848
Weather: Clear 66, SE 5 mph
Suk, M. faced 3 batters in the 7th.
Hills, D faced 2 batters in the 9th.
