HAMMOND, La. – Southeastern Louisiana left-hander
Kyle Cedotal scattered two hits Friday in a complete-game effort as the Lions shut out ULM, 2-0, in the 2016 season opener at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field.
Cedotal (1-0), who tied a career high with 14 strikeouts as he tossed the second shutout of his career, locked into a pitcher's duel early with ULM (0-1) right-hander Brayden Bouchey.
Both pitchers combined to retire the first 15 batters of the game until Southeastern (1-0) second baseman
Taylor Schwaner drew a leadoff walk in the third inning. The sophomore from New Orleans, Louisiana, also picked up the Lions' first hit, a double to left-center field, leading off the fifth.
A senior from Denham Springs, Louisiana, Cedotal retired the first nine batters he faced, surrendering the game's first hit to Warhawk center fielder Cade Stone leading off the fourth. The southpaw retired the next three in order, however, stranding Stone at third.
Bouchey matched Cedotal pitch-for-pitch into the sixth inning, fanning a career-high eight batters.
Southeastern chase the right-hander in the sixth after he walked Lion third baseman
Derrick Mount to lead off the inning and then surrendered a single up the middle to first baseman
Jameson Fisher.
Senior designated hitter
Daniel Midyett sacrificed both runners into scoring position before the Warhawks opted for reliever Keller Bradford. The side-arming righty walked
Julian Service to load the bases before working out of the inning.
The Lions finally broke through in the eighth.
Jacob Seward, the reigning Southland Conference Player of the Year, drew a walk off freshman lefty Ethan Daily (0-1) to open up the inning. After Mount grounded to first, moving Seward into scoring position, Fisher followed with his second hit of the game.
The junior from Zachary, Louisiana, smacked an RBI single up the middle to drive in Seward with the winning run and later came around to score the game's final run on a wild pitch.
Cedotal fanned at least one batter in every inning. He fanned the side in the second and also struck out 3-in-a-row over the course of the sixth and seventh. He notched a pair each in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, and fanned the final batter of the game with a pair of runners on base.
The series continues Saturday at 2 p.m. with baseball-themed bingo. Students and campus organizations can earn points toward their new Lion Up Loyalty account just by checking-in on the mobile app while in attendance.
Saturday's game can be heard in the Hammond area on KSLU 90.9 FM, online and through TuneIn Radio app. Fans can keep up with the series 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 and tickets are available on the baseball schedule page at www.LionSports.net.
The box office at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field opens one hour prior to the scheduled first pitch.
Southeastern La. 2, UL Monroe 0 (Feb 19, 2016 at Hammond, La.)
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UL Monroe............. 000 000 000 - 0 2 0 (0-1)
Southeastern La...... 000 000 02X - 2 3 0 (1-0)
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Pitchers: UL Monroe - Bouchey, Brayden; Bradford, Keller (6); Daily, Ethan (8); Curtis, Keegan (8) and Hemphill, Spencer. Southeastern La. - Cedotal, Kyle and Eades, Chris.
Win-Cedotal, Kyle (1-0) Loss-Daily, Ethan (0-1) T-2:32 A-1807
Weather: 67 Clear, SE 10 mph
