Box Score HAMMOND, La. – Southeastern Louisiana scored in every turn at bat Sunday en route to a seven-inning, run-rule victory over Nicholls State in Southland Conference action at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field.
Grabbing two-of-three from conference-leading Nicholls (26-23, 16-8 Southland), Southeastern (29-20, 14-10 Southland) enters the final two weekends of the regular season three games out of first place in the Southland. It was the first conference run-rule win for the Lions since they defeated McNeese State, 12-2, in the second-to-last game of the 2012 regular season (May 18).
The scoring started early. Southeastern scored four runs in the first inning, three in the second, four more in the third, one each in the fourth and sixth, and a pair in the fifth.
Jacob Seward was hit by a pitch to open the bottom of the first.
Jameson Fisher followed with a single to right, the first of his career-high five hits in the game.
Andrew Godbold hammered a 1-0 offering from Nicholls starting pitcher Brandon Jackson over the left-field wall, and up against the back fence that separates the Lions' bullpen from the football practice field, giving Southeastern a 3-0 lead just three batters in.
Brett Hoffman followed with a double into the right-center gap, moving to third on
Sam Roberson's infield single. After
Daniel Midyett drew a walk to load the bases, Hoffman scored from third on a double-play ground ball off the bat of
Kennon Menard.
Jacob Williams and Seward drew walks to open the second, forcing the Colonels into the first of five pitching changes in the game. Fisher greeted left-handed reliever Zach Thiac with an RBI double to right-center. The Lions would score two more runs in the inning on a pair of Nicholls errors.
Southeastern collected 17 hits for the second time (Alcorn State) this season, falling shy of the season-high 19 hits recorded against Grambling State. Fisher, Godbold, Hoffman and Menard all collected multi-hit games.
Godbold drove in four runs. Fisher drove in three, while Roberson and Williams each drove in a pair.
Kyle Cedotal, Fisher, Menard, Seward and Williams all scored multiple runs.
Andro Cutura (8-2) earned his eighth win of the season, tied for the most in the Southland Conference, allowing just one hit in five scoreless innings of work.
Sean Kennel worked a pair of scoreless innings to close out the contest. Jackson (3-2) suffered the loss.
Since the beginning of April, Cutura has allowed just three runs (two earned) in 39.1 innings of work for a 0.46 ERA. In that time, he's surrendered 18 hits (.134 opponent average) and three walks while fanning 34 batters.
Southeastern returns to action Tuesday at Tulane. First pitch for the Lions' final mid-week tilt is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Greer Field at Turchin Stadium.
Southeastern La. 15, Nicholls State 0 (May 04, 2014 at Hammond, La.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nicholls State........ 000 000 0 - 0 4 3 (26-23, 16-8 SLC)
Southeastern La..... 434 121 X - 15 17 1 (29-20, 14-10 SLC)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pitchers: Nicholls State - Jackson, Brandon; Thiac, Zach (2); Deemes, Ryan (3); McDonald, Jason (4); Tillotson, Cody (5); Picciola, Marc (6) and Correa, Christian. Southeastern La. - Cutura, Andro; Kennel, Sean (6) and Fisher, Jameson.
Win-Cutura, Andro (8-2) Loss-Jackson, Brandon (3-2) T-2:09 A-575
HR SLU - Godbold, Andrew (7).
Weather: 83 Sunny, W 7 mph
Jackson, B. faced 2 batters in the 2nd.
