HAMMOND, La. – Freshman
Kade Granier tossed three scoreless innings in relief Friday and Southeastern Louisiana scored single runs in the fifth through eighth innings to rally for a 5-4 season-opening win over Louisiana Tech at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field.
Granier (1-0), a right-hander from Destrahan, Louisiana, entered in the seventh with the Lions down by one and faced just one over the minimum in his three inning stint, earning the win in his collegiate debut.
Southeastern (1-0) fell behind early as Tech (0-1) leadoff hitter Taylor Love jumped on the first pitch of the game from junior right-hander
Tate Scioneaux and deposited it over the fence in right-center field. A Preseason All-Conference USA player, Love reached base all four times he came up to the plate in the game.
The Lions answered with two outs in the bottom of the first when designated hitter
Daniel Midyett yanked one out to right for a solo home run. It was the first career homer for the junior from Shreveport, Louisiana.
In the fifth, Tech took advantage of some uncharacteristic wildness by Scioneaux. After retiring the leadoff hitter, the right-hander hit three of the next five batters. The Bulldogs sprinkled in three hits and pushed across three runs for a 4-1 lead.
Southeastern started to chip away at the lead immediately.
Ryan Byers drew a one-out walk in the bottom of the fifth, stole second base and eventually scored on a bases-loaded error by Bulldog second baseman Thomas Simoneaux.
Midyett scored in the sixth when Tech left fielder Colby Johnson misplayed a fly ball off the bat of
Brett Hoffman. Byers scored again in the seventh, to tie the game, on an RBI-ground out by
Jacob Seward.
Pinch runner
Drew Avans, a freshman from Alabaster, Alabama, scored the winning run on a bases-loaded walk by shortstop
Brooks Morse, a sophomore from Sulphur, Louisiana, in the bottom of the eighth.
All four Lion runs that scored late in the game reached bases on a walk. Tech pitching walked eight in the game.
Reliever Laetten Galbreath (0-1) was tagged with the loss. There was no save.
Saturday's game, which includes baseball-themed bingo, is slated for 2 p.m. against Tech. The Lions will send junior right-hander
Jake Johnson (8-4, 3.89 - JUCO), a transfer from Neosho County (Ks.) C.C, to the mound against Tech left-hander Tyler Clancy (3-2, 3.82 – JUCO).
Fans can keep up with the game through live statistics or by following SLUathletics on Twitter. A link for live stats is available on the baseball schedule page at www.LionSports.net.
Individual game tickets are currently on sale and may be purchased online at www.LionSports.net/Tickets or through the baseball box office which opens one hour before first pitch.
Southeastern La. 5, Louisiana Tech 4 (Feb 13, 2015 at Hammond, La.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Louisiana Tech....... 100 030 000 - 4 6 2 (0-1)
Southeastern La..... 100 011 11X - 5 4 1 (1-0)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pitchers: Louisiana Tech - Maton, Phil; Bristo, Braden (6); Galbraith, Laetten (7) and Deceglie. Michael. Southeastern La. - Scioneaux, Tate; Granier, Kade(7) and Eades, Chris.
Win-Granier, Kade(1-0) Loss-Laetten Galbraith(0-1) T-2:39 A-825
HR LATECH – Love, Taylor. HR SLU - Midyett, Daniel.
Weather: 50 Partly Cloudy, SW 1 mph
