HAMMOND, La. – Senior pitcher Kyle Cedotal carried a perfect game into the eighth inning Saturday night as defending Southland Conference champion Southeastern Louisiana opened defense of its title with an 11-0 win over Incarnate Word at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field.

Cedotal (2-2), one week after holding No. 16-ranked East Carolina scoreless for eight innings, retired the first 22 batters he faced in order. Freshman right-hander Corey Gaconi worked a perfect ninth for the Lions (8-6, 1-0 Southland), combining with Cedotal for the 16th 1-hitter in school history.

The left-hander from Denham Springs, Louisiana, had lost his previous two starts, both by one run, after the Lions scored a combined total of five runs. This time Southeastern left little doubt, scoring three runs in the first two innings against UIW (3-10, 0-1 Southland).

Shortstop Brennan Breaud, a freshman from Norco, Louisiana, got the Lions going, drawing a 1-out walk in the first. After stealing second base, his first of two steals on the night, he scored on first baseman Jameson Fisher's RBI single to right-center field.

In the second inning, right fielder Webb Bobo ripped a 1-out double into the gap in right-center. Left fielder Julian Service followed with a triple into the left-center field gap to plate Bobo. Service later scored on a wild pitch.

Cedotal, who fell one shy of once again tying his career high in strikeouts, fanned four through the first three innings.

Southeastern added a run in the fifth while Cedotal was locked into domination mode. From the beginning of the fifth through the first batter of the seventh, he struck out 7-consecutive batters.

Center fielder Jacob Seward, a junior from New Orleans, Louisiana, yanked the Lions' second triple of the game down the first-base line with one out in the fifth. He scored when the catcher, trying to field Breaud's chopper in front of the plate, was late applying the tag.

The Lions added three more runs in the seventh for a 7-0 lead.

Cedotal, who finished the night with 13 strikeouts, fanned UIW designated hitter Christian Divelbiss to open the eighth. With one out, center fielder Cory Duran jumped on the first pitch of his at bat, dropping a single in down the left-field line. Testing out the arm of Ryan Byers, who had just taken over in left that inning after pinch hitting, Duran was easily thrown out trying to stretch his hit into a double. Cedotal fanned the next batter, catcher Robert Lopez, to end the inning.

After the Lions tacked on four more runs in the eighth for the final margin of victory, Southeastern head coach Matt Riser elected to bring in Gaconi for the ninth. The Brother Martin (HS) grad fanned a pair, tossing a perfect ninth.

Cedotal and Gaconi combined to face the minimum in the win, fanning a total of 15 batters. It was the eighth time this season that Lion pitchers have fanned at least 10 batters and the fourth time they have struck out 15 or more.

The 1-hitter was Southeastern's first since Brandon Efferson (7.2 innings) and Jacob Ott (1.1 innings) combined to defeat Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in conference play, 11-2, on April 21, 2011, in the opener of a 3-game series in Hammond.

The series continues Sunday at noon with a doubleheader. Season ticketholders can use either Friday or Sunday's ticket for admission to the games. A doubleheader ticket will be sold and the stadium will not be cleared between games. The box office at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field opens one hour prior to the scheduled first pitch.

The games can be heard in the Hammond area on KSLU 90.9 FM, online and through TuneIn Radio app. Fans can keep up with both contests 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, gameday promotions and tickets are available on the baseball schedule page at www.LionSports.net.

Students and campus organizations can also earn points toward their new Lion Up Loyalty account at any of the three games just by checking-in on the mobile app while in attendance.

Sunday the Lions will send sophomore right-hander Mac Sceroler (1-2, 4.15) to the mound in the first game of the doubleheader against UIW righty John Shull (0-0, 4.40). Senior southpaw Domenick Carlini (1-0, 2.41) draws the starting nod for Southeastern in Sunday's finale against Cardinal freshman left-hander Tyler Lesley (2-1, 5.00).


Southeastern 11, Incarnate Word 0 (Mar 12, 2016 at Hammond, La.)
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Incarnate Word....... 000 000 000 -   0    1 2 (3-10, 0-1 SLC)
Southeastern.......... 120 010 34X - 11 12 0 (8-6, 1-0 SLC)
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Pitchers: Incarnate Word - Martinez, Bernie; Hull, Denson (5); Hardee, Trevor (6); Dubbels, Ryan (7); Richey, Cody (8) and Lopez, Robert. Southeastern - Cedotal, Kyle; Gaconi, Corey (9) and Eades, Chris.

Win-Cedotal, Kyle (2-2) Loss-Martinez, Bernie (0-2) T-2:38 A-912
Weather: Cloudy 70, SE 10 mph