Box Score Box Score
HAMMOND – Brandon Efferson and
Jacob Ott combined on the first one-hitter recorded by Southeastern Louisiana pitchers since 1992 and
Cass Hargis collected a pair of singles to tie the school record for career hits as the Lions defeated Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 11-2, in a Southland Conference game Thursday at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field.
Joe Sparacino went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and a two-run homer as Southeastern (25-14, 11-8 SLC) snapped a three-game losing streak and moved to within two games of league co-leaders Texas State and Stephen F. Austin, which each lost at Northwestern State and McNeese State, respectively.
The series resumes on Friday with first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m. The game can be heard in the Hammond area on KSLU-FM (90.9) and on the internet at www.LionSports.net.
Efferson (7-2) retired 18 of the first 19 batters he faced before Omar Garcia reached on a throwing error to lead off the seventh inning. Matt Holland followed as he hit a 1-and-1 pitch to left-center field for a double with Garcia stopping at third.
Trey Hernandez then lined out to center field, allowing Garcia to score on the sacrifice fly that cut the Southeastern lead to 8-1.
Efferson, who struck out seven batters and walked six (four coming in the eighth inning), allowed an earned run before Ott came in and pitched the final 1.1 innings to help notch Southeastern's 13th one-hit pitching performance and first since former Lion and Major Leaguer Kirk Bullinger tossed a one-hit shutout against Florida International in the Trans America Athletic Conference Tournament (now Atlantic Sun).
Hargis, a fifth-year senior, went 2-for-4 and tied the career record of 276 hits set by former teammate Ty Summerlin from 2006-09. The former Holy Cross product reached on an error in the second inning and flied out to center before hitting a two-out single in the fifth to move to within one of the school record.
Jeff Harkensee reached on a two-out error by the Islanders in the seventh inning before scoring on an RBI single by
Josh Cryer. Hargis then followed with a chopper up the middle for his record-tying hit while allowed Cryer to score from second and give Southeastern a 10-1 lead.
Southeastern took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Harkensee singled through the right side, moved to second on a bunt by Cryer and scored when Bobby Buckner's throw to first skirted past Hernandez.
Sparacino gave Southeastern a 2-0 lead in the third inning when he doubled to center off A&M-CC starter Ian Campbell (5-4) and scored on a second Buckner throwing error to first. Two batters later,
Jonathan Pace belted a two-run double into the left-center field gap before a suicide squeeze bunt by Cryer scored both Pace and
Justin Boudreaux to cap a five-run inning.
The Lions increased their lead to 8-0 in the fourth when
Cody Gougler led off with a walk and Sparacino belted the next pitch over the right-field fence for his second home run of the season.
Southeastern collected 14 hits off three Islander pitchers with every Lion starter recording at least one. Cryer drove in three runs for the Lions while Harkensee and Sparacino each scored a pair of runs.
Campbell took the loss for A&M-CC as he scattered eight hits and allowed eight runs (four earned) with three strikeouts.
A&M-Corpus Christi.. 000 000 110 - 2 1 4 (22-20, 7-12 SLC)
Southeastern La..... 015 200 21x - 11 14 1 (25-14, 11-8 SLC)
Campbell, Ferdin (6), Botello (8) and Ruiz. Efferson, Ott (8) and Fisher. W – Efferson (7-2). L - Campbell (5-4). E – Holland (1), Buckner 2 (4), Vergne (4), Boudreaux (20). DP - AMCC 2, SLU 1. LOB - AMCC 7, SLU 3. 2B – Holland (15), Pace (10), Sparacino (2). HR – Sparacino (2). HBP - Marek, Washington. SH – Cryer 2 (7), Fisher (3). SF – Hernandez (3). CS – Hargis (4). T - 2:24. A – 636.
