Box Score Box Score
HAMMOND – Chase Lyles belted a two-run home run to cap a three run fifth inning before Will Watson's two-run single highlighted a four-run sixth as Northwestern State held on and defeated Southeastern Louisiana, 8-5, in a Southland Conference game Thursday at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field.
The series resumes Friday in a 6 p.m. contest. The game can be heard in the Hammond area on KSLU-FM (90.9) and on the internet at www.LionSports.net.
Northwestern State (34-19, 20-10 Southland) remained one-and-a-half games behind league leader Texas State in the standings and moved to within a half-game of Southeastern (39-15, 21-10 Southland) of second place. The Demons pounded out 10 hits in the contest as they built an 8-3 lead before the Lions scored two runs in the seventh and loaded the bases with one out in the ninth.
Chad Sheppard, who recorded his 10th save of the season, fanned
Brock Hebert to open the ninth inning before hitting
Trey Martin and
Cass Hargis. After
Justin Boudreaux walked to load the bases, Sheppard got
Jeff Harkensee to fly out to center field before getting
Cody Gougler to ground out to end the game.
Northwestern State broke open a 1-1 contest in the fifth inning after Watson hit a one-out double to right field, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on Eric DeBlanc's grounder to shortstop. Oscar Garcia kept the inning alive with a single up the middle before Lyles launched 1-and-0 pitch from Southeastern starter
Brandon Efferson (8-4) over the center-field fence for a 4-1 lead.
Southeastern cut the lead to 4-3 in the bottom half of the inning when Harkensee hit a two-out, two-run single to left scoring Martin and Hargis.
The Demons sent 10 men to the plate in the sixth as it chased Efferson, who allowed eight hits and eight runs. Tyler Baisley led off the inning with a home run that gave Northwestern State a 5-3 lead before Justin Martinez doubled and Colin Bear followed with a single to put runners on the corners.
After Aaron Munoz drew a walk to load the bases, Watson drove in two runs with a single off
Stefan Lopez before DeBlanc singled to score Munoz.
Harkensee, who finished 2-for-5 with four RBI for Southeastern, cut the lead to 8-5 in the seventh when his two-out triple off Demon starter Luke Irvine (7-4) scored Hargis and Boudreaux.
Southeastern trailed 1-0 in the second before
Joe Sparacino launched a solo home run to left-center field. The Lions threatened to break the game open in the third after Hebert singled and Hargis and Boudreaux drew walks to load the bases, but Martinez snagged a liner from Harkensee and doubled Hargis off the base at second to end the inning.
Heath Hennigan pitched a scoreless inning in relief for Northwestern State before Sheppard came in to close out the game. Irvine, the Southland leader in strikeouts, fanned two in the contest while scattering seven hits and allowing five runs.
Lopez tossed four innings for Southeastern, allowing two hits with four strikeouts and three walks. Martin was hit by a pair of pitches, increasing Southeastern's total to a school-record 113 on the season and tied with High Point for the national lead.
Northwestern State.. 100 034 000 - 8 10 0 (34-19, 20-10 SLC)
Southeastern La..... 010 020 200 - 5 7 0 (39-15, 21-10 SLC)
Irvine, Hennigan (8), Sheppard (9) and Munoz. Efferson, Lopez (6) and Cryer. W – Irvine (7-4). Sv. – Sheppard (10). L - Efferson (8-4). DP - NWLA 2, SLU 1. LOB - NWLA 7, SLU 8. 2B – J. Martinez (16), Watson (3). 3B – Harkensee (2). HR – Lyles (6), Baisley (9), Sparacino (7). HBP - Hargis, Martin 2. SB – Lyles (32). CS – Martinez (3). T - 2:57. A – 1,039.
