CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Southeastern Louisiana rallied twice Sunday to tie the game, pulling away late for an 8-5 win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the series finale at Chapman Field.
The win allowed Southeastern (20-12, 8-7 Southland) to avert a sweep at the hands of the Islanders (13-20, 5-7 Southland) and snap a six-game road skid.
Down 2-0 in the fourth, the Lions scored a pair of runs to tie the game, but A&M-Corpus Christi came back with three runs in the bottom of the inning to regain the lead.
In the fifth inning, Southeastern head coach
Matt Riser was ejected for arguing a call that left the Islanders with runners on the corners with one out. Reliever
Bryce Tassin got a weak popup to short and struck out the final batter to get out of the inning without allowing a run.
Feeding off the energy, the Lions again rallied to tie the game, 5-5.
Carson Crites, a senior from Amarillo, Texas, ripped a leadoff double into the left-center power alley and scored when third baseman
Taylor Schwaner smacked his first home run of the game to right field.
Ryan Byers, a senior from Ponchatoula, Louisiana, followed with a double to center, chasing A&M-Corpus Christi starting pitcher Devin Skapura. First baseman
Derrick Mount greeted reliever Nolan Holland with an RBI single off the first-base bag, tying the game.
Southeastern took the lead in the seventh, 7-5.
Reliever David Worrell (1-3) walked Crites and hit Schwaner with a pitch to open up the inning. Byers advanced both runners into scoring position with a deep, foul fly to right off new Islander pitcher Cullen Jozwiak.
Crites was thrown out at the plate on a fielder's choice grounder off the bat of Mount. With runners on the corners and one out, Mount stole second base. Schwaner, off the bag at third, drew the throw from the catcher and immediately broke for the plate.
The return throw by the A&M-Corpus Christi third baseman was not in time, hitting Schwaner in the back and kicking away. Schwaner scored the eventual winning run and Mount advanced to third, coming home to score when
Daniel Wasinger's ball got between the legs of the third baseman.
Schwaner, a junior from Slidell, Louisiana, wrapped up the scoring with a solo home run to right in the eighth.
Josh Green (3-0), the third of four Lion pitchers, earned the win after tossing 2.1 scoreless innings in relief. He allowed two hits and did not walk a batter, striking out a pair.
Evan Hileman, a junior from St. Rose, Louisiana, earned his second save of the season, retiring the final five batters of the game. He struck out one.
Worrell suffered the loss, a pair of runs, one earned, in 0.1 inning of work. He walked one and hit one batter.
Mount (3-for-5), Byers (2-for-5), Crites (2-for-4) and Schwaner (2-for-4) all turned in multi-hit performances. Schwaner hit a pair of homers, scored four runs and drove in three.
Southeastern returns to Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field this week, hosting Northwestern State in a three-game, Southland Conference series. Games are scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, 6 p.m. Friday and 1 p.m. Saturday.
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.
Southeastern 8, A&M-Corpus Christi 5 (Apr 09, 2017 at Corpus Christi, Tx)
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Southeastern................. 000 203 210 - 8 11 3 (20-12, 8-7 SLC)
A&M-Corpus Christi... 110 300 000 - 5 10 4 (13-20, 5-7 SLC)
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Pitchers: Southeastern - Koestler, Carlisle; Tassin, Bryce (4); Green, Josh (6); Hileman, Evan (8) and Wasinger, Daniel. A&M-Corpus Christi - Skapura, Devin; Holland, Nolan (6); Worrell, David (6); Jozwiak, Cullen (7); Rasure, Korey (9) and Hermanson, Lukas.
Win-Green, Josh (3-0) Save-Hileman, Evan (2) Loss-Worrell, David (1-3) T-3:07 A-417
HR SLU - Schwaner, Taylor 2 (10).
Weather: Sunday Funday
Koestler, C. faced 3 batters in the 4th.
Skapura, D. faced 3 batters in the 6th.
Worrell, D. faced 2 batters in the 7th.
