BATON ROUGE, La. – Senior right-hander Santos Saldivar kept the Lion hitters off balance the entire game Wednesday as Southern defeated Southeastern Louisiana, 5-1, at Lee-Hines Field.
Southeastern (36-14) tied a season high, striking out 13 times against the Southern (17-22) starting pitcher.
Southern scored four unearned runs in the third, on a pair of Lion errors, jumping out in front. Lance Jones reached on a fielding error by
Brett Hoffman to open up the inning. Tyler Kirksey and Rivers Frederick followed with bunt singles to load the bases.
Marcus Tomlin popped a fly ball to right field, but
Julian Service dropped the ball and Tomlin reached safely as Jones scored from third. With two outs, Jose DeLa Torre ripped a bases-clearing double down the left field line.
Southeastern responded with a run in the fourth.
Kevin Carr smacked a two-out double into the right-field corner and scored when Hoffman followed with a double to center.
That was all the Lions would get as Saldivar (4-6), who needed 142 pitches to go the distance, scattered six hits and walked just one on his way to earning the win.
Southern picked up an insurance run in the eighth off the Southeastern bullpen.
Pat Cashman (3-5), the Lions' starting pitcher suffered the loss despite not allowing an earned run in five innings of work.
Hoffman, who was 3-for-4 with an RBI and a stolen base, led the Lions at the plate.
Southeastern returns to Southland Conference play Friday at 6 p.m. against Central Arkansas in the opener of a three-game series at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field.
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.
Southern 5, Southeastern La. 1 (May 06, 2015 at Baton Rouge, La.)
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Southeastern La..... 000 100 000 - 1 6 3 (36-14)
Southern................. 004 000 01X - 5 7 0 (17-2)
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Pitchers: Southeastern La. - Cashman, Pat; Granier, Kade (6); Klotz, Mason (7); Bethel, Dreagan (8); Avans, Drew (8) and Eades, Chris. Southern - Saldivar, Santos and DeLa Torre, Jose.
Win-Saldivar, Santos (4-6) Loss-Cashman, Pat (3-5) T-2:10 A-129
Bethel, D. faced 2 batters in the 8th.
