HAMMOND, La. – Two of the top teams in the Southland Conference went toe-to-toe in a pair of games Saturday at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field with Southeastern Louisiana and McNeese splitting a doubleheader, and the Lions claiming the series with a walk-off win in the nightcap.
Southeastern (18-10, 7-5 Southland) battled back from a 4-1 loss to the Cowboys (19-9, 10-2 Southland) in the first game of the doubleheader, walking off with a 5-4 win in its final at-bat to close out Super Lion Saturday.
"It was a true heavyweight battle," Southeastern head coach
Matt Riser said. "We talked about it in the middle of the game. They hit the home run and got some momentum going back in their direction a little bit. We talked about how we had to respond. They punch and we have to counter. We told them, just stay on your feet. As long as you can stay on your feet and keep punching, you'll have the result at the end that you want. And I thought that's exactly what we did."
Pitching set the tone for a pair of tight games. Both Lion starters worked into at least the fourth inning before allowing their first baserunners of the game and McNeese got a complete game out of Rhett Deaton (4-0) in the day's first game.
At the end of the day, both teams picked up a win on the strength of pitching and defense.
Southeastern wraps up its current homestand with a Cane's Challenge game Tuesday at 6 p.m. against South Alabama.
General Admission tickets for single home games are $9 for adults and $6 for children (ages 3-12). Tax is included in the price of admission. Southeastern students are admitted free with a valid university ID card.
Students and campus organizations can earn points toward their Lion Up Loyalty account at any home game by checking in on the mobile app while in attendance.
Tickets can be purchased online at www.LionSports.net/Tickets or by contacting the athletics ticket office at (985) 549-5466 or 1-866-LION-TIX. Ticket office hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. on Fridays. The box office at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field opens one hour prior to the scheduled first pitch.
GAME ONE - McNeese 4, Southeastern 1
Southeastern jumped out to an early lead with a first-inning run.
Left fielder
Drew Avans drew a walk to lead off the inning, but was erased on a fielder's choice off the bat of
Jacob Seward. After a
Carson Crites single sent Seward to third base, he scored on
Taylor Schwaner's sacrifice fly to center field.
Lion starting pitcher
Corey Gaconi (2-2) was locked in early, retiring the first 11 batters he faced. McNeese snapped the string with three straight singles, plating the tying run in the fourth.
After surrendering Crites' single, Deaton fashioned a string of his own. The sophomore right-hander retired the next 10 batters he faced and did not allow another Lion hit until two outs in the fifth.
The Cowboys reached Gaconi in the sixth as first baseman Ricky Ramirez knocked a solo home run just to the left of center field. It was the first homer of the season for Ramirez and it put McNeese on top, 2-1.
Single runs in the eighth and ninth padded the Cowboys lead.
Deaton went the distance to earn the win, scattering three hits and four walks. He struck out six.
Gaconi suffered the loss, allowing three runs in 7.2 innings of work. The sophomore from Metairie, Louisiana, allowed six hits and walked two. He also struck out four batters.
Avans, Crites and
Daniel Wasinger had the Lions' three hits.
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McNeese............. 000 101 011 - 4 10 0 (19-8, 10-1 SLC)
Southeastern........ 100 000 000 - 1 3 0 (17-10, 6-5 SLC)
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Pitchers: McNeese - Deaton, Rhett and Whelton, Brett; Duhon, Dustin. Southeastern - Gaconi, Corey; Robinson, Payton (8); Pickett, Gage (9) and Wasinger, Daniel.
Win-Deaton, Rhett (4-0) Loss-Gaconi, Corey (2-2) T-2:15 A-1256
HR MCN - Ramirez, Ricky.
Weather: Sunny 82, SE 13 mph
GAME TWO - Southeastern 5, McNeese 4
For the third time in the series, Southeastern took the lead in the first inning.
Seward, a senior from New Orleans, Louisiana, slapped a one-out single through the left side. He advanced to third on Crites' double to right-center field and both scored on Schwaner's double down the third-base line.
A two-out walk to
Ryan Byers later forced Cowboy starting pitcher Bryan King from the game. Reliever Grant Anderson picked up the final out of the inning and then shut down the Lions over the next three.
Southeastern starting pitcher
Carlisle Koestler was up to the task, however, retiring the first 14 batters he faced until left fielder Shane Selman smacked a solo home run in the fifth. Selman's homer, his fifth of the season, cut the Lions' lead in half.
Crites responded with a solo homer of his own in the bottom of the inning, putting Southeastern back up by two.
McNeese responded with two more runs to tie the game, 3-3, in the sixth. Avans, the designated hitter, relieved Koestler in the inning.
In the seventh Riser again went to the bullpen, opting for right-hander
Bryce Tassin to face Cowboy designated hitter Mitchell Rogers.
McNeese head coach Justin Hill objected to Avans remaining in the game as the Southeastern designated hitter following his stint on the mound. Feeling the umpires were not properly enforcing the rule, Hill opted to play the remainder of the game under official protest.
After a lengthy delay, Tassin retired the next two batters to end the inning.
Southeastern regained the lead in the bottom of the seventh. Avans was hit by a pitch to open up the frame, advancing to second on Seward's comebacker to the mound and to third on a wild pitch. After Crites drew a one-out walk, he scored when the Cowboys failed to turn a double play on Schwaner's grounder to short.
McNeese tied the game once again in the eighth, chasing Tassin from the game with a pair of singles and a sacrifice fly.
Josh Green (2-0) retired the final batter of the inning on a liner to Crites at second.
After the Lions failed to score in the bottom of the eighth, the game's intensity peaked in the ninth.
Cowboy right fielder Nate Fisbeck led off the ninth with a single to left, his third hit of the game, and advanced to second when Green issued a walk to shortstop Will Fox. Jake Cochran, who pinch hit for Rogers following the protest, sacrificed both runners into scoring position.
Robbie Podorsky, who entered the weekend seventh in the nation with 14 stolen bases, followed by grounding a ball up the middle past Green. Crites came charging in, scooped up the ball and fired a strike to Lion catcher
Evan Pace to nail Fisbeck at the plate for the second out.
McNeese then tried to force a balk out of Green, sending Podorsky. Green stepped off the rubber, pump-faked to second and fired to third baseman
Taylor Schwaner to pick off Fox for the final out.
Southeastern wasted little time taking control in the bottom of the inning.
Pace jumped on the first pitch from Cowboy closer Trent Fontenot (1-1), smacking the ball to right. Fisbeck injured himself on the play, limping to the warning track to chase down the ball and allowing Pace to wind up at third.
Avans lined a 2-0 pitch up the middle, past a drawn-in, overloaded infield for the game-winner. It was Avans' second walk-off hit of the season, joining his ninth-inning RBI single against South Alabama in the Cox Diamond Invitational.
Following the game, the umpiring crew went over the rule in question with both head coaches. Determining the correct interpretation was applied, the ruling was upheld and the protest was voided.
Green earned the win, working 1.1 shutout innings of relief. He surrendered one hit and walked one.
Fontenot was tagged with the loss, allowing one run in one inning of work. He allowed two hits and struck out one.
Crites (2-for-3),
Derrick Mount (2-for-4) and Schwaner (2-for-4) turned in multi-hit performances for the Lions. Schwaner drove in three, maintaining his conference RBI lead, and Crites scored a pair of runs.
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McNeese............. 000 012 010 - 4 8 0 (19-9, 10-2 SLC)
Southeastern........ 200 010 101 - 5 9 0 (18-10, 7-5 SLC)
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Pitchers: McNeese - King, Bryan; Anderson, Grant (1); Kober, Collin (6); Fontenot, Trent (8) and Duhon, Dustin. Southeastern - Koestler, Carlisle; Avans, Drew (6); Tassin, Bryce (7); Green, Josh (8) and Pace, Evan.
Win-Green, Josh (2-0) Loss-Fontenot, Trent (1-1) T-2:50 A-1256
HR MCN - Selman, Shane.
HR SLU - Crites, Carson.
Weather: Clear 77, SE 10 mph
Fontenot, T. faced 2 batters in the 9th.
