LAKE CHARLES –The McNeese baseball team ditched the old "Friday the 13
th" myth and instead battled past a salty Arkansas-Pine Bluff squad to score a 6-5 season opening win at the newly renovated Cowboy Diamond.
The victory gave the Cowboys (1-0) their second consecutive season opening win under head coach
Justin Hill and their first back-to-back triumph since the 2009-2010 seasons.
"We did not know what to expect from Arkansas-Pine Bluff this evening and did not expect them to come out with as much energy as they did," said Hill. "One thing we did do tonight was take advantage of some mistakes while UAPB was unable to take advantage of our flaws."
The Cowboys used 10 hits to the Lions' five to gain the advantage while both teams committed one error during the game.
Starting pitcher Kaleb Fontenot (1-0) picked up his ninth career quality start after having worked six innings and allowed only one earned run. His eight strikeouts tied a career high that he set against Houston Baptist in 2014.
After a rocky start in the top of the first frame, McNeese chopped away at a 2-0 UAPB (0-1) lead in the bottom frame as junior
Billy Sommers' single up the gut drove in a
James Cantu run. Sommers finished the night with two hits and two RBI.
"For UAPB to go out and score two runs there at the beginning is a situation that happens sometimes," explained Hill. "But, we had a great crowd here to support us tonight and there was great competition going on so that was big for us."
McNeese tied the lead in the second inning due to a sacrifice fly from senior
Andrew Guillotte who drove in senior
Lucas Quary.
Fontenot found his routine in the progression of the first inning as he retired seven straight batters before giving up a hit in the top of the third inning. However, the feisty Lions would not go down without a fight after they turned in a sacrifice hit to score a runner from third, making it a 3-2 lead for the visiting team in the third frame.
"You can chalk a start like that up to jitters but once Kaleb settled down and quit thinking then we were able to produce," said Hill.
However, the Cowboy bats awoke in the fourth inning and with a little help from the UAPB fielding errors, McNeese used a ground out from freshman
Joe Provenzano and another fly out from Guillotte to take its first lead of the game with a 4-3 mark over the Lions.
Guillotte's hit and two RBI would help propel the Cowboys to their season opening victory while the Moss Bluff native continued to climb the all-time stolen base list. His two swipes on the night now gives him 58 career stolen bases and needs just one more to tie Lee Orr for fifth all-time.
The Cowboys tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the sixth frame when a bases loaded hit by pitch allowed Guillotte to cross the dish. On the next play, Sommers' ground out to second allowed Cantu to score and up the McNeese lead to a 6-3 advantage.
UAPB put together one last plan of attack in the eighth inning using two runs to cut the lead to just one score but the Lions were unable to mount in offense in the last frame.
Sophomore
Collin Kober entered the game to relieve Fontenot and tossed a perfect 1.1 innings and was credited with his first career save.
The Cowboys continue their three-game series on Saturday when they take on Arkansas-Pine Bluff with the contest slated for a 3 o'clock start.
McNeese 6, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 5 (Feb 13, 2015 at Lake Charles, La.)----------------------------------------------------------------------
Arkansas-Pine Bluff. 201 000 020 - 5 5 1 (0-1)
McNeese............. 110 202 00X - 6 10 1 (1-0)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pitchers: Arkansas-Pine Bluff - OLSON,Billy; HENSON,Skyler(5); RAMOS,Ciji(6);
FIGUEROA,Jerimiah(7); WALSH,Kevin(8) and DRURY,Colin. McNeese - Fontenot, Kaleb;
Prejean, Cole(7); Kober, Collin(8) and Toole, Cameron.
Win-Fontenot, Kaleb(1-0) Save-Kober, Collin(1) Loss-OLSON,Billy(0-1) T-2:32 A-641
