NEW ORLEANS, La. – Southeastern Louisiana wrapped up the most successful regular season in school history Saturday, sweeping a Southland Conference doubleheader from the University of New Orleans, 8-2 and 5-1, at Maestri Field at First NBC Ballpark.
The Lions (41-15, 25-5 Southland) established new records for the most overall wins in school history and the most conference wins in Southland history. Southeastern also claimed the inaugural Pontchartrain Bowl trophy by winning the series with UNO (14-40, 3-26 Southland).
Ryan Byers and
Carson Crites powered the Lion offense, each smashing a home run in both games of the doubleheader.
No. 1-seeded Southeastern will face Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (23-25, 13-14 Southland), the No. 8 seed, Wednesday at 4 p.m. in the first round of the 2015 Southland Conference Baseball Tournament at Constellation Field in Sugar Land, Texas.
Game One - Southeastern La. 8, New Orleans 2Crites jump started the Southeastern offense with a solo home run to left field with one out in the first inning, smashing a 1-1 offering from reliever Mitchell Cohen (0-1) down the line.
The Privateers responded quickly, scoring a pair of runs in the bottom half of the first. Ryan Calloway and Samuel Capielano both singled to open the inning. Calloway scored on Sam Carriere's groundout and Jonathan Santana singled in Capielano with two outs.
In the second, the Lions answered right back with a pair of unearned runs to regain the lead.
Kennon Menard opened the inning with a single, but was erased on a fielder's choice off the bat of Byers. With two outs, UNO third baseman Parker Jones committed a throwing error on
Julian Service's ground ball to keep the inning alive. Crites and
Daniel Midyett followed with RBI singles to put Southeastern back on top, 3-2.
Byers cranked a two-out, two-run home run to left-center in the third.
Crites tripled to left-center with one out in the fourth and scored on a sacrifice fly to right by Midyett, extending Southeastern's lead to 6-2 over the Privateers.
The Lions added single runs in the fifth and eighth innings to complete the scoring.
Jake Johnson (10-2) earned the win, allowing a pair of runs in five innings of work. The junior right-hander surrendered eight hits and one walk, fanning two batters. Cohen was tagged with the loss, allowing five runs (three earned) in three innings pitched.
Drew Avans and
Mason Klotz each worked a pair of scoreless innings in relief to close out the game for the Lions.
Crites (3-for-4) and Menard (3-for-4) each turned in three-hit performances.
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Southeastern La..... 122 110 010 - 8 11 0 (40-15, 24-5)
New Orleans.......... 200 000 000 - 2 11 3 (14-39, 3-26)
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Pitchers: Southeastern La. - Johnson, Jake; Avans, Drew (6); Klotz, Mason (8) and Eades, Chris. New Orleans - Smith, Alex; Cohen, Mitchell (1); Halliday, Nick(4); Laigast, Seth (7); McKigney, Darron (8); Taylor, Jarred (9) and Santana, Jonathan.
Win-Johnson, Jake (10-2) Loss-Cohen, Mitchell (0-1) T-2:50 A-0
HR SLU - Crites, Carson (2); Byers, Ryan (2).
Weather: Cloudy, 87, Wind-SW 5 MPH
Game Two - Southeastern La. 5, New Orleans 1Crites homered again in his first plate appearance, knocking a Daniel Martinez (1-5) offering off the scoreboard in left-center field.
Byers smacked his second home run of the day leading off the third, putting the Lions up, 2-0.
Kyle Cedotal (9-2) cruised through six scoreless innings as Southeastern eventually staked him to a 4-0 lead with a pair of runs in the sixth.
UNO scored an unearned run in the seventh inning off Lion reliever
Kyle Keller, but Southeastern responded with a run in the eighth.
Daniel Midyett, who had knocked a one-out single, scored on a two-out, pinch-hit triple to right by
Webb Bobo.
Cedotal earned the win, scattering four hits and a pair of walks, fanning seven batters. Martinez suffered the loss, allowing a pair of earned runs in five innings of work.
Domenick Carlini,
Kade Granier and
Mac Sceroler finished off the game with a scoreless eighth and ninth in relief.
Crites (3-for-4) and Midyett (2-for-4) each turned in multi-hit performances in the series finale.
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Southeastern La..... 101 002 010 - 5 9 1 (41-15, 25-5)
New Orleans.......... 000 000 100 - 1 7 2 (14-40, 3-27)
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Pitchers: Southeastern La. - Cedotal, Kyle; Keller, Kyle (7); Carlini, Domenick (8); Granier, Kade (8); Sceroler, Mac (9) and Eades, Chris. New Orleans - Martinez, Daniel; Kelleher, Kevin (6) and Santana, Jonathan.
Win-Cedotal, Kyle (9-2) Loss-Martinez, Daniel (1-5) T-2:36 A-725
HR SLU - Crites, Carson; Byers, Ryan.
Weather: Overcast, 84, Wind-SW 10 MPH
