Box Score HAMMOND, La. – Southeastern Louisiana erupted for seven runs in the sixth inning Friday to put away Northwestern State, 12-4, in a Southland Conference contest at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field.
Southeastern (32-23, 17-12 Southland) reached the mid point of the game tied, 2-2, with Northwestern State (31-23, 19-10 Southland).
A big fly by
Andrew Godbold gave the Lions the lead for good in the fifth.
Jacob Seward led off the inning with a double to right-center and moved up to third base when
Jameson Fisher was retired on ball that glanced off Northwestern State starting pitcher Josh Oller (3-2).
Oller recovered enough to continue on the mound, but served up Godbold's eighth home run of the season on the next batter. The Demons replaced Oller with left-handed reliever Joey Parrack, but
Brett Hoffman greeted him with a single to right.
Following Hoffman's single, Parrack hit
Daniel Midyett with a pitch and walked
Sam Roberson to load the bases.
Kennon Menard drove in Hoffman with a sacrifice fly to center, giving Southeastern a 5-2 lead.
Northwestern State scored a run in the sixth, but the Lions sent 11 batters to the plate on their way to scoring seven runs in the inning.
Senior righty
Sean Kennel (5-3) earned the win for Southeastern. Oller was dealt the loss.
Every Lion starter hit safely, pounding out 16 hits in all. Six players recorded multi-hit performances.
Kennon Menard led the way with a career-high three hits.
Kyle Cedotal, Fisher, Godbold, Midyett and Seward all posted two hits each.
Godbold drove in three runs. Menard and
Jacob Williams each plated a pair.
Southeastern can clinch the fifth seed in the Southland tournament with a win in the series finale or a loss by McNeese State. The Lions can finish no lower than the sixth seed. Southeastern's first-round opponent will be one of three schools: Nicholls State, Northwestern State or Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Junior right-hander
Kyle Keller (3-3, 3.55) draws the starting nod for the Lions against Northwestern State left-hander Austin Tanner (2-1, 3.31) in Saturday's 2 p.m. regular-season finale. Senior Day ceremonies are slated to take place prior to the ballgame and fans should also be aware that Southeastern's spring commencement exercises will take place on campus earlier in the day.
The game can be heard in the Hammond area on KSLU 90.9 FM, online and either the KSLU or TuneIn Radio smartphone apps. Fans can keep up with the series finale through live statistics or by following SLUathletics on Twitter. Links for audio, video, stats and tickets are available on the baseball schedule page at www.LionSports.net.
Southeastern La. 12, Northwestern State 4 (May 16, 2014 at Hammond, La.)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Northwestern State... 010 101 001 - 4 6 1 (31-23, 19-10 SLC)
Southeastern La....... 200 037 00X - 12 16 1 (32-23, 17-12 SLC)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pitchers: Northwestern State - Oller, Josh; Parrack, Joey (5); Tidwell, Evan (6); Bear, Devin (7); Aultman, Nathan (8) and Webster, C.J.. Southeastern La. - Kennel, Sean; Pittari, Matt (8); Klotz, Mason (9) and Fisher, Jameson.
Win-Kennel, Sean (5-3) Loss-Oller, Josh (3-2) T-2:28 A-679
HR SLU - Godbold, Andrew (8).
Weather: 78 Partly Cloudy, SW 11 mph
