ABILENE, Texas – Southeastern Louisiana won its sixth straight game, rallying for a 4-3 win over Abilene Christian in Southland Conference play Friday at Crutcher Scott Field.
With the win over ACU (9-8, 2-2 Southland), Southeastern (12-6, 4-0 Southland) will maintain at least a share of first place in the conference.
The Wildcats jumped took advantage of first-inning miscue to go up 3-0 over Southeastern.
After third baseman Aaron Draper led off the bottom of the first with a single up the middle, center fielder Hunter Markwardt pulled a sac bunt up the first-base line. Lion first baseman
Jameson Fisher elected to wait out Markwardt before applying the tag. After a brief standoff, Markwardt dove safely around Fisher to reach first.
Both runners advanced on Russell Crippen's ground out that deflected off the glove of pitcher
Kyle Cedotal. Cleanup hitter Braxton Wilks plated Draper with a sacrifice fly to center. Markwardt scored on designated hitter Heath Beasley's two-run home run that snuck just over the wall and inside the right-field foul pole.
Southeastern loaded the bases with two outs in the second, but failed to push across a run.
Following a one-out walk in the second, Cedotal (3-2) settled in. The senior from Denham Springs, Louisiana, got nine-hole hitter Mark Pearson to ground into an inning-ending double play, setting off a string of 18-consecutive batters retired by the left-hander.
While Cedotal kept the Wildcat bats at bay, Southeastern went to work on ACU starting pitcher Kyle Carroll (2-3).
After Lion shortstop
Brennan Breaud drew a walk to lead off the third, Fisher blasted his own two-run homer to center field. Fisher, who went 3-for-4 at the plate, finished a double shy of the cycle.
Southeastern wiped out a 3-2 deficit in the fourth.
Second baseman
Carson Crites, who was 2-for-4 at the plate, ripped a leadoff double into the left-center field gap. Advancing to third on a ground out, Crites scored to tie the game on third baseman
Taylor Schwaner's RBI single up the middle.
Schwaner stole second base, advanced to third on a ground out and scored the eventual winning run on Breaud's single through the left side.
The Lions had chances to tack on insurance runs in the both the seventh and eighth innings, but in both cases ACU cut down runners at the plate.
After Pearson knocked a two-out double off the right-field wall in the eighth, breaking up Cedotal's string of 18 in-a-row retired, sophomore right-hander
Kade Granier fanned Draper to end the inning.
Granier worked a scoreless ninth to close out the game, earning his first save of the season.
Cedotal earned the win, the 20th of his career, tying him for eighth on Southeastern's all-time list. . He scattering three hits, one walk and four strikeouts in 7.2 innings of work. None of ACU's runs were earned. Carroll, the Wildcats' starting pitcher, was tagged with the loss.
Saturday at 2 p.m., the Lions will send sophomore right-hander
Mac Sceroler (1-2, 4.24) to the mound opposite ACU righty Garrett deMeyere (2-1, 2.82) in the second game of the series.
The game can be heard in the Hammond area on KSLU 90.9 FM, online and through the TuneIn Radio app. Fans can also keep up with the series through live statistics or by following SLUathletics on Twitter. Links for audio and stats are available on the baseball schedule page at www.LionSports.net.
Southeastern 4, Abilene Christian 3 (Mar 18, 2016 at Abilene, Texas)
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Southeastern........... 002 200 000 - 4 10 1 (12-6, 4-0 SLC)
Abilene Christian.... 300 000 000 - 3 4 1 (9-8, 2-2 SLC)
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Pitchers: Southeastern - Cedotal, Kyle; Granier, Kade (8) and Eades, Chris. Abilene Christian – Carroll, Kyle; Goetze, Joseph (7); Palacios, Nick (8); Lambright, Brandon (9) and Copeland, Alex.
Win-Cedotal, Kyle (3-2) Save-Granier, Kade (1) Loss-Kyle Carroll (2-3) T-2:20 A-475
HR SLU - Fisher, Jameson (6).
HR ACU - Heath Beasley (1).
Weather: Cold, cloudy, windy (N@18mph)
