Box Score BATON ROUGE, La. – Despite a valiant comeback effort, Southeastern Louisiana dropped its first-ever meeting with the University of Houston, 9-5, Sunday at Alex Box Stadium, bringing the Lions season to an end.
Southeastern (38-25), down 9-2 entering the eighth, rallied for three runs in its final two at bats, but came up short in the end against the Cougars (46-16).
"I couldn't be any more proud of this group of guys," Riser said. "If you look at the adversity we faced throughout the year, we started out 9-8, the worst we've had since I've been there. You know we had a six game losing streak, the longest losing streak we've had since 2007. At the end of the day when the story was at this standpoint - at the end – it's one of the greatest years in Southeastern history. I couldn't be any more proud of the guys to face the adversity and challenges that they did. You saw that we have a tough bunch of kids. They battled to the last pitch, all the way through the ninth inning. It obviously didn't end the way we wanted, but I couldn't be any more proud of our guys."
Houston scored seven runs in the first two innings, all unearned, as the Lions committed five errors. The big inning for the Cougars was a 10-batter second inning that led to six, two-out runs.
"We've been playing good baseball for a couple of weeks," Riser said. "Again, it was an inning that got away from us. Unfortunately you look back it for the tournament, you can look at two innings that really kind of hampered us a little bit – the eighth inning against LSU and the second inning today with Houston. But that's baseball. It happens and next week we talk about – we harp on the fundamentals of baseball and that's why. To be honest with you, more came from the loss than the win. That's why you just keep battling to the last pitch."
Southeastern's rally started with back-to-back one-out doubles by
Brett Hoffman and
Daniel Midyett in the eighth inning.
Kennon Menard drove both in with a two-out single up the middle.
Pinch-hitter
Gabe Woods appeared to hit the ball out of the ballpark leading off the ninth, but the umpires ruled the ball hit off the wall for a double.
Jacob Seward followed with a single to left, putting runners on the corners.
Jameson Fisher drove in Woods with a double to left-center field, energizing the loud Southeastern fan base.
"We've had awesome support," Riser said. "Honestly the year that Southeastern athletics has had – it's the most championships we've had I think in a year for the entire athletic program. We had five total; I think before that was three. You saw the support. It was so neat to run out of that third base box and hear that crowd – you know a couple thousand fans – out there supporting us no matter what. They had our back the whole time. Honestly even after the second inning, we get back in there and score a couple of runs. They're right back there. They're cheering; they're just so proud of our guys. I couldn't ask for a better home crowd."
The Lions pounded out 16 hits in the game with six players recording multi-hit performances.
Kyle Cedotal, Fisher, Hoffman,
Sam Roberson and Seward each picked up multiple hits in the game.
Houston starter Aaron Garza (9-4) earned the win while
Sean Kennel (5-4) was the hard-luck loser for the Lions.
Houston 9, Southeastern La. 5 (Jun 01, 2014 at Baton Rouge, La.)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Houston................. 160 000 020 - 9 12 1 (46-16)
Southeastern La..... 002 000 021 - 5 16 6 (38-25)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pitchers: Houston - Garza, Aaron; Maxwell, Bubba (7); Ford, Tyler (9) and Barker, Caleb. Southeastern La. - Kennel, Sean; Greenleaf, Jason (2); Pittari, Matt (5); Keller, Kyle (7); Hills, Dylan (9) and Fisher, Jameson.
Win-Garza, Aaron(9-4) Loss-Kennel, Sean(5-4) T-2:57 A-10607
Actual Attendance: 2,291
1 hour, 3 minute weather delay in the top of the 7th inning
Maxwell faced 1 batter in the 9th.
Baton Rouge Regional hosted by LSU
FridayGame 1 - #1 LSU 8 - #4 Southeastern Louisiana 4
Game 2 - #2 Houston 3 - #3 Bryant 2 (10 innings)
SaturdayGame 3 – #4 Southeastern Louisiana 2 - #3 Bryant 1 (10 innings)
Game 4 – #1 LSU 5 - #2 Houston 1
SundayGame 5 – #2 Houston 9 - #4 Southeastern Louisiana 5
Game 6 – #2 Houston 5 - LSU 4 (11 innings)
MondayGame 7 – #1 LSU (46-15-1) vs. #2 Houston (47-16), 7 p.m., ESPN3
Quotes - Head Coach MATT RISEROn this being the first step for next season…"Again, just really proud of our seniors. They kind of stepped up for us and said, 'You know what, we've been so close for so many years. It's time to take this thing to the next level.' They got all the guys to buy in. You know we had seniors that were role players all year, but they weren't selfish. They didn't complain about playing time. When they got their opportunity, they took advantage of it. You saw
Gabe Woods get in there in the ninth inning locked in and hits that ball over the fence. Again, it's just a testimony to what we've built honestly. Yeah – it's taking it to the next level. Honestly, I thank the seniors for everything they did with our program and where it's taken our program. Honestly the younger guys – hey, remember this feeling. Now it's time to take it to another level."
On what he has returning for next year…"Yeah – you know we have a lot coming back honestly. We have to wait to see with the draft goes with some guys and see what we need to replace if there is anything there draft-wise. At the end of the day, a lot of the guys we had out there. I know at one point in time we had three or four freshmen on the field when we throw a certain pitcher. The future is bright. I think we had a great recruiting class coming in to replace some guys next year. Honestly, I think the future is definitely going to be bright for Lion Nation."
1B SAM ROBERSONOn the game today and the entire season…"This year, I thought we had just a great year. Everyone stepped up as a whole. (Jameson) Fisher did awesome this year taking the whole load catching wise. He did great. Coach Riser did an outstanding job coaching his first year here and leading us. For the day, I felt pretty good. I just got some good pitches to hit and put it on the barrel."
On the success of this year and the precedent it sets for the program…"We definitely set a new standard for Southeastern baseball. We got our first conference championship we've ever had since joining the Southland Conference, and our first regional in 20 years. The past three years that I've been here, we've been dog piled three times. This year was the first year we got to do it. Now, we got over the hump. Now, it feels like an expectation moving forward which is a great place to be other than just getting there."
C JAMESON FISHEROn the game today and the year…"I thought it was a great year for Southeastern making it to regional. First time in 20 years. Obviously, it wasn't the way we wanted it to end. We wanted to keep fighting, keep moving on and playing with the guys that we had. As far as I go, as always, all the glory to God. Everything I have, all the success I have is given from Him. Just like Sam (Roberson) said, I had a few balls to hit and just put a barrel on it."
On the errors in the second inning…"Yeah, it was definitely frustrating. Especially not seeing guys make plays that they make nine times out of 10, some plays 10 out of 10. It's just frustrating, there's not much else to say. It was just one of those days."
