Box Score Box Score
HAMMOND – Lee Orr went 4-for-5 with a home run and three RBI to fuel a season-high 18-hit attack and help McNeese State defeat Southeastern Louisiana, 9-4, in a Southland Conference contest Saturday afternoon at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field.
The series concludes Sunday at 1 p.m. The game can be heard in the Hammond area on KSLU-FM (90.9) and on the internet at www.LionSports.net. Southeastern will send right-hander
Tyler Watkins (3-0, 1.86 ERA) to the mound in Sunday's finale while McNeese State will counter with southpaw Phil Parcell (2-0, 5.27 ERA).
Jace Peterson added three hits for McNeese State (12-8, 4-1 SLC), falling a home run short of the cycle while Seth Granger added three hits. Each starter collected at least one hit for the Cowboys, who won their second league series of the season after taking two of three from Northwestern State last week.
McNeese State broke up a scoreless tie in the third as Peterson hit a one-out triple off Southeastern starter
Joseph Koon (2-2) to drive in Trey Rickrode before Orr belted his first home of the season four pitches later for a 3-0 lead.
Southeastern (12-7, 3-2 SLC) scored twice in the bottom half of the frame when
Brock Hebert drove in
Cody Gougler with an RBI double and
Jonathan Pace hit an RBI single to center to extend his hitting streak to 16 games.
The Cowboys answered in the fourth inning as they opened with five straight hits and took a 6-2 lead. Rickrode and Blake Ellender led off the inning with singles off Lion reliever
Josh Janway before Peterson hit an opposite-field double to drive in both runners. Orr followed with a single through the left side to score Peterson and Seth Granger added a single.
Shea Daly led off the fifth inning with a home run that gave McNeese State a 7-3 lead and the Cowboys added a run in the eighth on an RBI double by Granger and a ninth-inning RBI single by Ellender.
Matt Click (2-1) earned the win for the Cowboys, tossing 6.2 innings allowing six hits and four runs with four strikeouts. Koon took the loss for Southeastern as he allowed five hits and three runs in 2.2 innings.
Southeastern cut the McNeese State lead to 6-3 in the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly by Gougler before Pace drove in
Cass Hargis with a fifth-inning double to right that cut the deficit to 7-4.
Pace was one of four players to collect two hits to lead Southeastern, which totaled eight in the game.
Josh Cryer,
Jeff Harkensee and Hebert each had two hits for the Lions, who dropped their third game in a row.
McNeese State....... 003 310 011 - 9 18 1 (12-8, 4-1 SLC)
Southeastern La..... 002 110 000 - 4 8 1 (12-7, 3-2 SLC)
Click, Lloyd (7), Dillon (8), Conrad (9) and Daly. Koon, Janway (3), Pittari (5), Greenleaf (8), Hymel (9) and Cryer. W – Click (2-1). L - Koon (2-2). E – Crenshaw (2), Boudreaux (9). DP – McNeese State 2. LOB – McNeese State 11, SLU 7. 2B – Peterson (3), Granger (6), Eubanks (1), Pace (5), Hebert (4). 3B – Peterson (4). HR – Orr (1), Daly (1). SH – Ellender (1), Weber (3), Daly (1), Rickrode (3), Martin (7). SF – Gougler (1). SB – Peterson (14), Orr (10), Hargis (2). CS – Cryer (1). T – 3:07. A – 881.
