Box Score LAKE CHARLES, La. – McNeese State scored four runs in the first three innings Sunday at Cowboy Diamond, holding off Southeastern Louisiana for a 5-3 Southland Conference win and averting a sweep at the hands of the Lions.
Southeastern (31-22, 16-11 Southland) dropped back to sixth place in the conference standings, but remains three games out of first place after Texas A&M-Corpus Christi lost 10-7 to Lamar and fell into a first-place tie with Sam Houston State.
The Lions grabbed the lead in the first inning.
Jameson Fisher knocked a one-out single up the middle, moved up to second base on a wild pitch and advanced to third when
Andrew Godbold ripped an infield single off the third baseman's glove.
Following a walk to
Sam Roberson,
Brett Hoffman hit a sinking line drive to left field. Cowboy left fielder Jackson Gooch made a diving grab, robbing Hoffman of a hit, but Fisher tagged and scored from third.
McNeese (28-23, 17-10 Southland) answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 2-1 lead. The Cowboys added to the lead with two more runs in the third, chasing Lion starting pitcher
Kyle Cedotal from the game.
Southeastern clawed back within 4-3, scoring single runs in the fifth and sixth.
Fisher led off the fifth with a single to left and advance to third on Godbold's double down the left-field line. Fisher scored on Hoffman's sacrifice fly to center.
Jacob Williams drew a two-out walk in the sixth, chasing McNeese starter Bryce Kingsley in favor of left-handed reliever Tyler Erickson.
Jacob Seward and Fisher both pulled singles into right with Williams scoring on the latter.
The Cowboys added an insurance run in the seventh, extending their lead to 5-3.
Fisher and Godbold each recorded three hits for Southeastern.
Kingsley (5-3) picked up the win for the Cowboys and Cory LaPeze earned his second save of the season with 3.1 scoreless innings of relief work. Cedotal (3-3) was handed the loss.
Southeastern returns home to host Northwestern State, Thursday through Saturday, in the final games of the regular season and then heads to Conway, Arkansas, for the Southland Conference Baseball Tournament, May 21-24. The Lions clinched their eighth-consecutive conference tournament bid with Saturday's 13-3 win over McNeese.
Advance tickets for all home baseball games are available through www.LionSports.net or by contacting the Southeastern Athletics Ticket Office at (985) 549-5466 or 1-866-LION-TIX. Ticket office hours are 11 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. on Fridays, and is located in Room 107 of the Dugas Center for Southeastern Athletics.
McNeese 5, Southeastern La. 3 (May 11, 2014 at Lake Charles, La.)
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Southeastern La..... 100 011 000 - 3 8 1 (31-22, 16-11)
McNeese............... 202 000 10X - 5 9 1 (28-23, 17-10)
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Pitchers: Southeastern La. - Cedotal, Kyle; Keller, Kyle (3); Greenleaf, Jason (7) and Fisher, Jameson. McNeese - Kingsley, Bryce; Erickson, Tyler (6); LaPeze, Cory (6) and Toole, Cameron.
Win-Kingsley, Bryce (5-3) Save-LaPeze, Cory (2) Loss-Cedotal, Kyle (3-3) T-2:55 A-372
Weather: Partly Sunny; 85 degrees
Erickson, T. faced 2 batters in the 6th.
