Box Score SUGAR LAND, Texas. – Southeastern Louisiana rode a five-run, third-inning explosion to a 5-3 victory Thursday over No. 27-ranked Sam Houston State in a winner's bracket contest at Constellation Field in the 2013 Southland Conference Baseball Tournament.
Southeastern (35-22), the No. 4 seed, knocked off the top-seeded Bearkats (37-19) to start 2-0 in the tournament for the second-consecutive season.
“That's a dadgum good team right there in Sam Houston,” coach
Jay Artigues said. “They are very well coached and we were very fortunate tonight. We got some big hits when we needed to in that one inning. We put a lot of pressure on them in that one inning. We ran the bases, but we made some base running mistakes that took some runs off the board. I was very proud of the guys for battling there.”
Sam Houston starting, and losing, pitcher Cody Dickson (9-5) retired the first six Lion batters he faced until
Ladd Rhodes led off the third with a single to left field. After
Gabe Woods sacrificed Rhodes to second, Dickson hit
Alex Marse for the first of two times in the game.
Ben Hernandez singled up the middle to load the bases with one out.
Freshman
Jameson Fisher rocketed a single off the glove of Bearkat first baseman Jessie Plumlee to drive in Rhodes and Marse. Lion catcher
Sam Roberson followed with a triple to right, plating Hernandez and Fisher.
Harry Slade completed the Lion scoring for the night with an RBI-groundout to third base.
The Bearkats would not go quietly, coming back with three runs in the top of the fourth off Southeastern freshman right-hander
Tate Scioneaux (7-3). Carter Burgess drove in two of the three runs with a triple, but got caught in a run down to end the inning.
Scioneaux and Dickson matched scoreless innings after that, each leaving the game with two out in their respective half of the seventh.
“I think the stories of these true freshman keep popping up,” Artigues said. “Scioneaux was outstanding and he competed his tail off against a very good hitting Sam Houston team. It was a great pitching performance by all our guys.”
Freshman
Mason Klotz picked up the final two outs, with the potential tying run in scoring position, for his second-consecutive save of the tournament. The win also marked the second-straight win for a Lion freshman.
“It was a huge game,” Scioneaux said. “It was a huge game because earlier in the season they came to us and we struggled with them (Sam Houston), but getting an opportunity to face them is a big deal. I couldn't be happier.”
Lamar and Sam Houston match up in a loser's bracket contest at 12 p.m. Friday with the winner advancing to play the Lions at 7 p.m. that evening.
Southeastern's 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 free live video stream, will be available. Links to audio, video and stats are located on the baseball schedule page at www.LionSports.net.
Every game of the tournament, which the exception of the title game, will be streamed live on the Southland Conference Digital Network, which includes Southland.org and the league's free mobile and tablet apps for iPhone and Android. The championship game will be available exclusively on ESPN3.
“We need to win tomorrow,” Artigues said. “We've been in this situation before last year and we need to make sure we capitalize on opportunities and take advantage of that.”
Southeastern La. 5, Sam Houston State 3 (May 23, 2013 at Sugar Land, Texas)
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Sam Houston State... 000 300 000 - 3 10 0 (37-19)
Southeastern La........ 005 000 00X - 5 8 0 (35-22)
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Pitchers: Sam Houston State - Dickson, Cody; Burchett, Michael(7) and Azar, Anthony. Southeastern La. - Scioneaux, Tate; Pittari, Matt(7); Hills, Dylan(8); Klotz, Mason(9) and Roberson, Sam.
Win-Scioneaux, Tate(7-3) Save-Klotz, Mason(11) Loss-Dickson, Cody(9-5) T-2:24 A-1273
Weather: 86F, Sunny, SSE 12 mph
