Box Score SUGAR LAND, Texas – A pair of Southeastern Louisiana freshmen came through in the clutch Wednesday as the Lions snapped a 2-2 deadlock in the eighth for a 5-3, first-round victory over Lamar in the Southland Conference Tournament.
Battling through a rain delay that lasted just over an hour and a half, the game settled into a pitchers' duel. After the delay, Lamar (36-19) opted for reliever Hunter Perry over Jonathan Dziedzic and Southeastern's
Kaleb Manuel would eventually yield to
Kyle Cedotal in the fourth.
“It was definitely a grind especially with that rain delay,” coach
Jay Artigues said. “The thing that I was really impressed about the rain delay is that
Kaleb Manuel gave us some more innings. It was important for him to eat up some innings and then the freshman (
Kyle Cedotal) comes out in a 2-2 game and did a great job. We knew it was a must win.”
Cedotal (5-5) turned in an All-Tournament caliber performance out of the pen for Southeastern (34-22). The freshman left-hander allowed one run on one hit in 4.2 innings to earn the win.
Perry (0-1) matched the pace into the eighth, but exited after surrendering a one-out double to Lion right fielder
Aaron Haag. Reliever Jerin Spikes attempted to pick Haag off second and threw the ball away. After
Ladd Rhodes drew a walk, freshman designated hitter
Josh Watkins dropped a single just out of reach of Cardinal left fielder Darian Johnson as Haag scored easily from third.
With runners at first and second,
Alex Marse followed with a hit-and-run single to right. Rhodes scored on the hit, but the throw to third sailed into the stands allowing Watkins to walk home.
“I think we gave some at bats away, but I think our guys did a great job in the clutch,” Artigues said. “
Alex Marse got the big hit, then
Josh Watkins comes off the bench and gets two big hits for us. It's not about how many hits, but it's about timing. We didn't have many big hits early in the game, but they came through late.”
Mason Klotz worked the ninth for his team-leading tenth save of the season while Perry suffered the loss.
“We are going to enjoy this one tonight, but when our head hits the pillow we have to focus on tomorrow,” Artigues said. “We know we have a really good Sam Houston team and we have to be playing our best tomorrow. We have to start on the mound. We have another true freshman going for us and he has been real good for us all year. Hopefully, he'll dial one up tomorrow.”
Southeastern will face No. 27-ranked Sam Houston State Thursday at 7 p.m. in a winner's bracket contest at Constellation Field. Other action during the tournament's second day includes Central Arkansas taking on Stephen F. Austin at 9 a.m. as well as Lamar squaring off against McNeese State at 12 p.m. in a pair of loser's bracket games. Oral Roberts and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi will face each other at 4 p.m. in a winner's bracket contest.
Southeastern La. 5, Lamar 3 (May 22, 2013 at Sugar Land, Texas)
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Lamar....................... 100 100 001 - 3 8 5 (36-19)
Southeastern La..... 011 000 03X - 5 9 0 (34-22)
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Pitchers: Lamar - Dziedzic, Jonathan; Perry, Hunter (3); Spikes, Jerin (8); Autrey, J.T. (8) and Luevanos, Zach. Southeastern La. - Manuel, Kaleb; Cedotal, Kyle(4); Klotz, Mason(9) and Roberson, Sam.
Win-Cedotal, Kyle (5-5) Save-Klotz, Mason (10) Loss-Perry, Hunter (0-1) T-2:51 A-1412
Weather: 87F, Mostly cloudy, SSE 6 mph
Game notes: Rain delay in T3 (1:34)
Cedotal, K faced 1 batter in the 9th.
