HAMMOND, La. – Southeastern Louisiana swept a doubleheader from McNeese State by scores of 15-4 and 9-2 Sunday in Southland Conference action at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field.
Southeastern (30-11, 14-4 Southland) is back in sole possession of first place in the conference, leading Northwestern State by one game.
The Lions pounded out double-digit hits in both games against McNeese (22-18, 12-9 Southland), reaching the 30-win mark this season the fastest in school history.
Ryan Byers (5-for-7) drove in eight runs combined.
Jacob Seward (3-for-8) picked up five RBIs. There were 10 multi-hit performances for Southeastern in the two games.
Southeastern wraps up the four-game homestand Tuesday at 6 p.m. against the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in a contest that will be televised regionally by Cox Sports Television and carried nationally on ESPN3 (outside CST's coverage area only).
General admission tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for youth (ages 3-12). Children younger than three are admitted free with a paying adult. Southeastern students are also admitted free with their university ID card.
The Southeastern Athletic Ticket Office is located in Room 107 of the Dugas Center for Southeastern Athletics. For more information, contact the ticket office at (985) 549-5466 or 1-866-LION-TIX. Ticket office hours are 11 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. on Fridays.
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.
Game One - Southeastern Louisiana 15, McNeese State 4Southeastern broke the Cowboys' backs early, scoring four runs in the second inning. The Lions continued to pile on runs in the next five innings as well.
Brett Hoffman led off the second by drawing a walk from McNeese starting pitcher Ethan Stremmel (3-4). With one out,
Carson Crites beat out an infield single. Both players moved into scoring position on a passed ball.
Byers pulled a two-out single through the left side, driving in Hoffman with the day's first run. After Byers stole second base, Seward followed with a two-run single to left-center field. Stremmel then walked
Julian Service and surrendered an RBI single to right by
Daniel Midyett. The Lions sent 10 batters to the plate in the inning, chasing Stremmel from the game.
Southeastern scored two more runs each in the third, fourth and fifth innings. The Lions added one more in the sixth and the final four runs in the seventh.
Byers drove in both third-inning runs with a double to left-center and the sixth-inning run on a sacrifice fly. He drove in two more runs in the seventh, picking up six total RBIs in the first game of the doubleheader.
Kevin Carr popped his first home run as a Lion with one out in the seventh. The solo shot landed on the roof of the batting cages in left.
Jake Johnson (7-1) earned the win, scattering three runs in six innings of work. The junior from Salina, Oklahoma, walked three and fanned six batters.
Kyle Keller earned the first save of his career, tossing the final three innings and picking up three strikeouts. Stremmel was saddled with the loss.
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McNeese State....... 000 100 300 - 4 7 1 (22-17, 12-8 SLC)
Southeastern La..... 042 221 40X - 15 17 0 (29-11, 13-4 SLC)
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Pitchers: McNeese State - Stremmel, Ethan; LaPeze, Cory (2); Day, Tyler (4); Briggs, Austin (6); Williams, Jacob (7); Brast, Clay (7) and Toole, Cameron; LaRosa, Garrett. Southeastern La. - Johnson, Jake; Keller, Kyle (7) and Eades, Chris; Cuccia, Nico.
Win-Johnson, Jake (7-1) Save-Keller, Kyle (1) Loss-Stremmel, Ethan (3-4) T-3:01 A-1111
HR SLU - Carr, Kevin (1).
Weather: 79 Mostly Sunny, WSW 10 mph
Johnson, J. faced 2 batters in the 7th.
Game Two - Southeastern Louisiana 9, McNeese State 2The Lions picked up where they left off, pushing across three runs in the second inning.
Hoffman knocked a one-out single to left and advanced to second when McNeese starting pitcher Bryce Kingsley (3-4) hit
Kennon Menard with a pitch. With two outs, Southeastern strung together three-consecutive hits.
Chris Eades' double plated both Hoffman and Menard. Byers' single moved Eades to third and he scored on Seward's single up the middle.
Southeastern put the game out of reach with five more runs in the third. Highlights included an RBI triple by Hoffman, the first of his career, and back-to-back two-run singles from Byers and Seward.
Kyle Cedotal (5-2) earned the win, tossing eight innings. He allowed two runs, one earned, walked two and struck out nine batters.
Kade Granier worked a scoreless ninth to close out the game. Kingsley suffered the loss.
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McNeese State....... 000 000 200 - 2 5 0 (22-18, 12-9 SLC)
Southeastern La..... 035 000 10X - 9 12 2 (30-11, 14-4 SLC)
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Pitchers: McNeese State - Kingsley, Bryce; Prejean, Cole (3); Quary, Lucas (5); Kober, Collin (7); Erickson, Tyler (8) and Toole, Cameron. Southeastern La. - Cedotal, Kyle; Granier, Kade (9) and Eades, Chris.
Win-Cedotal, Kyle (5-2) Loss-Kingsley, Bryce (3-4) T-2:40 A-1125
Weather: 84 Sunny, W 9 mph
