HAMMOND, La. – Daniel Midyett blasted a three-run home run in the first inning Friday and Southeastern Louisiana never looked back, cruising past Abilene Christian, 11-3, in Southland Conference play at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field.
Southeastern (14-5, 3-1 Southland) moves within a half game of conference leaders Central Arkansas, Northwestern State and Sam Houston State, who all had games postponed because of weather. The win was the ninth in 10 games for the Lions and the first in school history against Abilene Christian (1-12, 1-3 Southland).
Jacob Seward led off the bottom of the first with a single to right field and advanced to third when
Julian Service ripped a bounding single passed the Wildcats' third baseman. The Lions had runners on the corners with no outs when Midyett, batting third in the lineup, deposited his team-leading fourth home run of the season over the fence in right-center.
Junior pitcher
Tate Scioneaux (3-1) locked down Abilene Christian's bats, scattering six hits through seven innings, while Southeastern piled on the runs.
Service doubled the Lions lead in the fourth with a bases-loaded triple to left-center. He came home to score on a Midyett grounder that the first baseman struggled to corral.
Southeastern added a pair of runs in the fifth, tacking on single runs in the seventh and eighth. Abilene Christian scored three runs, two earned, in the eighth.
Brett Hoffman (3-for-5),
Chris Eades (2-for-3),
Kennon Menard (2-for-5), Service (2-for-5) and Seward (2-for-3) all turned in multi-hit performances at the plate. Sophomore outfielder
Ryan Byers extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a first-inning single.
A right-hander from Reserve, Louisiana, Scioneaux walked one and fanned eight on his way to earning the win. Dreagan Bethel and
John Gremillion each tossed an inning for the Lions to finish out the game. Wildcat starting pitcher Garrett deMeyere (1-2) suffered the loss.
Saturday the Lions will send junior right-hander
Jake Johnson (3-0, 0.93) to the mound against ACU left-hander Aaron Mason (0-2, 8.18). First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.
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 also keep up with the action through live statistics or by following SLUathletics on Twitter. Streaming video is available on LionVision, Southeastern's subscription-based video stream. Links for audio, video, stats, tickets and promotions are available on the baseball schedule page at www.LionSports.net.
Fans will be able to play baseball-themed bingo at Saturday's game. Prizes will be given to the first 20 players to bingo and the first player to make an "S" on their bingo card will receive $100.
General admission tickets for the game are $8 for adults and $5 for youth (ages 3-12). Children under the age of three are admitted free with a paying adult. Southeastern students are also admitted free with their university ID card.
The box office at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field opens one hour before first pitch. Individual game tickets may also be purchased online at www.LionSports.net/Tickets.
Southeastern La. 11, Abilene Christian 3 (Mar 13, 2015 at Hammond, La.)
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Abilene Christian... 000 000 030 - 3 11 2 (1-12, 1-3 SLC)
Southeastern La..... 300 420 11X - 11 15 1 (14-5, 3-1 SLC)
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Pitchers: Abilene Christian - Garrett deMeyere; Drew Hanson (6); Bryce Welborn (7); Austin Lambright (8) and Alex Copeland. Southeastern La. - Scioneaux, Tate; Bethel, Dreagan (8); Gremillion, John (9) and Eades, Chris.
Win-Scioneaux, Tate(3-1) Loss-Garrett deMeyere(1-2) T-2:51 A-854
HR SLU - Midyett, Daniel (4).
Weather: 69 Mostly Cloudy, SW 8 mph
Scioneaux, T faced 2 batters in the 8th.
