HAMMOND, La. – Southeastern Louisiana exploded for six runs in the seventh inning Tuesday, rallying to defeat Tulane, 8-5, at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field.
Tulane (1-3) built a 5-2 lead on the strength of four home runs, but the final blow was struck by Southeastern (2-1) second baseman
Carson Crites.
With the score tied, 5-5, in the seventh, Crites smashed a three-run homer to left field off Green Wave reliever Brandon Issa.
The Lion rally started with a free pass to first baseman
Derrick Mount leading off the inning. The walk forced reliever Christian Colletti from the game in favor of left-hander Sam Bjorngjeld (0-2). Bjorngjeld proceeded to surrender a single to
Drew Avans, an RBI double to
Brennan Breaud and a two-run single to
Jacob Seward.
After Issa retired a pair of batters in relief of Bjorngjeld, he coughed up an infield single to
Taylor Schwaner before being touched up for the game-winner by Crites.
First baseman Hunter Williams hit a pair of home runs for the Green Wave, knocking one in the first for an early 1-0 lead and then another solo shot in the seventh to give Tulane its largest lead, 5-2.
Bryce Tassin (1-0), a redshirt freshman from Walker, Louisiana, earned the win in his collegiate debut. The second of two Lion pitchers, Tassin allowed two runs on four hits in five innings of work. He struck out seven and did not walk a batter.
Bjorngjeld, the third of five pitchers for Tulane, suffered the loss.
Southeastern starting pitcher
Payton Robinson worked four innings, allowing three runs on five hits. He fanned four and also did not issue a walk.
Crites joined Avans and Seward in picking up a pair of hits for the Lions.
Southeastern returns to action at 6:30 p.m. Friday at No. 21-ranked Rice in the opening game of three-game series.
Southeastern 8, Tulane 5 (Feb 21, 2017 at Hammond, La.)
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Tulane.................. 100 200 200 - 5 9 1 (1-3)
Southeastern........ 020 000 60X - 8 8 1 (2-1)
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Pitchers: Tulane - Solesky, Chase; Colletti, Christian (6); Bjorngjeld, Sam (7); Issa, Brandon (7); Price, Robert (8) and Montalbano, Jeremy. Southeastern - Robinson, Payton; Tassin, Bryce (5) and Wasinger, Daniel.
Win-Tassin, Bryce (1-0) Loss- Bjorngjeld, Sam (0-2) T-2:39 A-1582
HR TLN - Williams, Hunter 2 (2); Hope, Hunter (1); Willsey, Jake (1).
HR SLU - Crites, Carson (1).
Weather: Partly Cloudy 66, WSW 1 mph
Colletti faced 1 batter in the 7th.
Bjorngjeld faced 3 batters in the 7th.
