HAMMOND, La. – Central Arkansas scored nine unanswered runs Saturday at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field and held on for a 10-9 victory over Southeastern Louisiana, snapping the Lions' 12-game Southland Conference winning streak.
Southeastern (37-15, 21-5 Southland) jumped out in front early, and rallied late, but came up short against Central Arkansas (24-20, 14-12 Southland). The 12-consecutive wins tied McNeese State for the second-most in conference history. Sam Houston State owns the conference record with 15, set earlier this season.
Both teams scored early and often. The Lions scored a run in the first inning, but Central Arkansas answered with an unearned run in the second to tie the game, 1-1.
Kennon Menard led off the bottom of the second with a base hit off the glove of the Bears' third baseman. He moved to second base on
Chris Eades' one-out single, but was thrown at trying to advance to third.
Ryan Byers followed up Eades' single with one of his own, putting a pair in scoring position with two outs.
Jacob Seward drew a walk from Central Arkansas starting pitcher Derek Beier to load the bases before
Chris Eades scored from third on a passed ball.
Carson Crites added to the Lions' lead with an RBI single up the middle.
Daniel Midyett drew a walk to load the bases once again and
Kevin Carr chased Beier from the game with a 2-run single to left-center field, putting Southeastern up 5-1.
The Bears started chipping away at Southeastern's lead immediately. Designated hitter Nick Rougeau drew a walk to lead off the third and moved up to second on Tyler Langley's single through the left side. Both runners advanced into scoring position on Wesley Hoover's sacrifice bunt.
Central Arkansas second baseman Chris Townsend plated Rougeau on a groundout to shortstop before Travis Hull cranked a two-run home run to right, pulling the Bears within 5-4.
In the fourth, Central Arkansas added six more runs, the last four of which were unearned, to take a 10-5 lead over the Lions.
Southeastern responded to the setback immediately with a pair of runs in its half of the fourth. Seward led off the inning with a single up the middle, but was erased on a fielder's choice. Crites, who reached on the groundout, stole second and scored on Midyett's double to left-center. Midyett would come home to score on a two-out, pinch-hit double by
Jacob Williams.
After the fourth, the bullpens settled in for the long haul.
Kade Granier closed out the game with 5.1 scoreless innings of relief, keeping the Lions close enough for a comeback attempt.
Left-hander Chris Durham held Southeastern at bay in the middle innings, until
Julian Service and Eades chased him from the game with back-to-back singles leading off the seventh. Byers sacrificed both into scoring position and then Service scored on a wild pitch. Eades would eventually cross the plate on a Seward sacrifice fly to left, bringing Southeastern within a run.
The Lions put the tying run on base three times in the final two innings, but failed to solve Central Arkansas reliever Bo Stitch.
Durham earned the win and
Jake Johnson (9-2) was tagged with the loss. Stitch earned his third save of the season with three innings of scoreless relief.
Eades (3-for-5), Byers (2-for-4), Carr (2-for-5), Crites (2-for-5), Midyett (2-for-3) and Service (2-for-5) led Southeastern at the plate.
Sunday's 1 p.m. series finale is Academy Family Day. A bounce house inflatable will be set up outside of left field for all of the smaller Southeastern fans, along with family-friendly promotions going on throughout the game.
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.
Southeastern's magic number to clinch the regular-season title sits at two. Any combination of two wins by the Lions or losses by Northwestern State (28-19, 18-7 Southland) and Southeastern will clinch its first Southland regular-season championship. The Lions are already assured of a spot in the 2015 conference tournament scheduled for May 20-23 at Constellation Field in Sugar Land, Texas.
Southpaw
Kyle Cedotal (7-2, 1.71), a junior from Denham Springs, Louisiana, draws the starting nod for Southeastern in Sunday's series finale and is tentatively set to oppose Bear right-hander Riley Echols (3-3, 3.69).
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 cards.
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.
Central Arkansas 10, Southeastern La. 9 (May 09, 2015 at Hammond, La.)
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Central Arkansas.... 013 600 000 - 10 10 0 (24-20, 14-12 SLC)
Southeastern La...... 140 200 200 - 9 17 2 (37-15, 21-5 SLC)
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Pitchers: Central Arkansas - Beier, Derek; Durham, Chris (2); Stitch, Bo (7) and Hull, Travis. Southeastern La. - Johnson, Jake; Carlini, Domenick (4); Granier, Kade (4) and Eades, Chris.
Win-Durham, Chris (1-0) Save-Stitch, Bo (3) Loss-Johnson, Jake (9-2) T-2:58 A-1012
HR UCA - Hull, Travis (1).
Weather: 84 Mostly Cloudy, SE 10 mph
Carlini, D. faced 5 batters in the 4th.
Durham, C. faced 2 batters in the 7th.
