Box Score and Play-by-Play in .html Format
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - The Lions jumped out to a big lead with seven runs in the first two innings, but it was the bullpen that came up big on Thursday for the Southeastern Louisiana baseball team (36-21, 22-13 Southland Conference) as the Lions held off a rally by the Northwestern State Demons (26-26, 18-15 SLC) to advance to day three of the 2009 Southland Conference Baseball Tournament with a 9-7 win on Wednesday morning.
The Lions, who fell into the loser's bracket after a 9-2 loss to Sam Houston State in their first game of the tournament on Wednesday, wasted little time in jumping out to a lead on Thursday.
Senior second baseman
Ty Summerlin got things started with his fourth home run of the season. Summerlin's shot followed a lead-off single by sophomore center fielder
Cass Hargis to put the Lions out in front 2-0 after one.
The Lions extended that lead in a big way in the second, sending ten men to the plate and scoring five runs. Hargis picked up an RBI on a sacrfice bunt safety squeeze to score junior right hander
Philip Freeman, senior left fielder
Brandon Street had a two-run double and sophomore catcher
Josh Cryer's two-out RBI single gave the Lions a 7-0 advantage and chased Northwestern State starter Jimmy Heard from the ballgame after just 1.2 IP.
Southeastern junior right hander
Ryan Boudreaux sailed through the first two innings, allowing just one walk and a hit batsmen through the first two frams. Unfortunately, for the Lions, Boudreaux ran into trouble in the third.
Boudreaux walked four batters and hit two more to allow a pair of runs to score. With two outs, head coach
Jay Artigues brought on freshman right hander
Josh Janway. With the bases loaded, Janway allowed two inherited runners to score on a base hit by Eric Deblanc as the Demons made it 7-4 after three.
However, Janway settled in keeping the Demons off the board in the fourth and fifth. The Parkview Baptist product and Baton Rouge native induced an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded to pitch out of a jam in the fourth before retiring the side in order in the fifth.
Southeastern got some insurance in the top of the sixth as Hargis walked and came home to score on an RBI double by Street to make it 8-4. However, Northwestern State added three more in the sixth to chase Janway and reduce the Southeastern lead to one at 8-7.
Senior right hander
Ryan Collins came on and allowed a walk and a base hit before recording the final out of the sixth. However, the Chalmette native soon settled in to shut the door on the Demons the rest of the way.
Hargis and Street teamed up once again to give the Lions some insurance as Hargis singled and came home to score on a base hit by Street to make it 9-7 in the eighth.
Meanwhile, Collins worked 3.1 scoreless innings and allowed just two more hits to preserve the win for his second save of the season.
The Lions will now get set to face the loser of Thursday's matchup between No. 3 seed Texas-San Antonio and No. 7 Sam Houston State. First pitch for Friday's elimination contest will be set for 9 a.m. at Whataburger Field in Corpus Christi, Texas. If the Lions win on Friday morning, they will have to play again at 4 p.m. on Friday.
Live stats and streaming audio play-by-play will be available online at www.LionSports.net, and the game can be heard in the Hammond area on KSLU 90.9 FM.