HAMMOND, La. – Tate Scioneaux tossed his second-straight shutout and Southeastern Louisiana defeated Central Arkansas, 6-0, in Southland Conference play Friday at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field.
Southeastern (37-14, 21-4 Southland) won for the 12th-consecutive time in conference play, beating Central Arkansas (23-20, 13-12 Southland) in a rematch of the last two Southland tournament championship games.
The Lions jumped on Central Arkansas starting pitcher Connor Gilmore (7-3) for all six runs in the second inning. Just one was earned.
Brett Hoffman led off the inning with a single through the right side and advanced to second base when
Kennon Menard drew a walk. It was the 198th hit of Hoffman's career, tying him for eighth place on Southeastern's all-time list.
Webb Bobo dropped a sacrifice bunt down the third-base line, advancing the runners. Bobo reached safely when the second baseman, covering the bag at first, pulled his foot off the bag early on the throw.
Chris Eades drove in the eventual winning run, pulling a single through the left side. With one out,
Jacob Seward cranked a sacrifice fly to deep right-center field to drive in Menard for a 2-0 lead.
Carson Crites doubled the Lions' lead, doubling to left-center to plate Bobo and Eades. Crites scored when Brad Dillenberger, the Central Arkansas shortstop, overthrew first base on a
Daniel Midyett grounder.
Midyett scored when
Kevin Carr smacked the first triple of his career past the center fielder.
Scioneaux (8-2), who has tossed 20-consecutive scoreless innings, did not allow a hit until the fourth. Scattering single hits in the fifth and sixth as well, he followed all up with strikeouts.
The junior from Reserve, Louisiana, fanned 10 en route to earning the 22nd victory of his career, tying former teammate Jordan Hymel for fifth on Southeastern's all-time wins list. He is also fifth in career strikeouts (248) and moved into a tie with Bob Hardy for the second-most career innings pitched as a Lion (301.1).
Carr led Southeastern at the plate, going 2-for-4 in game one of the series.
Saturday's 2 p.m. game will feature Bingo at the Ballpark. Baseball-themed bingo cards will be given out to all fans and students. Prizes will be awarded to the first 20 fans with bingo. The first participant to produce an "S" on their bingo card will receive $100.
The game can be heard in the Hammond area on KSLU 90.9 FM, online and through 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.
The Lions will send junior right-hander
Jake Johnson (9-1, 2.85) to the mound in the second game of the series against Central Arkansas righty Brandon Hagerla (5-3, 3.89).
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 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. 6, Central Arkansas 0 (May 08, 2015 at Hammond, La.)
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Central Arkansas.... 000 000 000 - 0 5 2 (23-20, 13-12 SLC)
Southeastern La...... 060 000 00X - 6 5 0 (37-14, 21-4 SLC)
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Pitchers: Central Arkansas - Gilmore, Connor and Hull, Travis. Southeastern La. - Scioneaux, Tate and Eades, Chris.
Win-Scioneaux, Tate (8-2) Loss-Gilmore, Connor (7-3) T-1:53 A-1030
Weather: 82 Partly Cloudy, SE 10 mph
