LAKE CHARLES – The McNeese State baseball team suffered its first defeat of the season Wednesday afternoon as the Cowboys were dominated by Louisiana Tech, 12-2 at Cowboy Diamond.
"I thought it was a well played ballgame by both teams throughout the first couple of innings," said head coach
Justin Hill. Louisiana Tech was able to stretch its lead out and prevented us from making a rally."
McNeese (4-1) used multiple-hit efforts from three different Cowboys during the contest as senior
Andrew Guillotte, sophomore
Matt Gallier and freshman
Joe Provenzano each collected two hits. Gallier's efforts were the most effective against the Bulldogs as he batted 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored.
Senior
Cole Prejean (0-1) shut down the Louisiana Tech (1-4) bats during the first four innings limiting the Bulldogs to just two hits. However, the Bulldogs awoke in the latter part of Prejean's outing and rattled his cage by dispensing three more hits, two walks and three runs.
Louisiana Tech's Phil Maton received the win after a spectacular performance on the mound as he worked 7.0 innings and allowed just one run on four hits and a walk. Maton fanned out six batters in the process.
Guillotte continued to etch his name into the McNeese record books with his third swipe of the season in the first inning was enough that placed him into a tie for fifth place with Lee Orr on the all-time stolen base list with 59 total. Guillotte is only 19 swipes away for tying Jace Peterson for the all-time lead.
Muscle was shown early during the midweek showdown when Gallier launched a missile over the right field wall in the bottom of the second to help secure a 1-0 lead over the Bulldogs. The homer was Gallier's second on the year and the Pokes' fifth bomb of the season.
The lead would not last long as Louisiana Tech answered with a pair of RBIs in the top of the fifth inning to gain a 2-1 lead over McNeese. The Bulldogs tacked on three more runs in the next frame to take a four run advantage. The inning was highlighted by a lead off longshot from Bre'Shon Kimbell.
The opposition warmed up its bats in the top of the seventh inning as Louisiana Tech erupted for six runs, aided by a grand slam, to extend its lead by an 11 run count over the Cowboys.
"I think we left some pitches up today and when you do that it tends to go the advantage of your opposition," said Hill. "You have to be able to get out of that rut and find your zone in order to prevent a situation similar to that."
McNeese managed to scrape across a run late in the game as
Connor Crane's left field double abled senior Guillotte to score and cut the lead to a 12-2 score.
The Cowboys will return to action over the weekend when it plays host to Bradley. The three-game series is slated to get underway on Friday at 6 p.m. following a neutral-site contest between visiting Southeast Missouri State and Illinois State.
Also collecting a hit for the Cowboys was senior
Connor Lloyd and junior
Lewis Guilbeau.
Louisiana Tech 12, McNeese 2 (Feb 18, 2015 at Lake Charles, La.)----------------------------------------------------------------------
Louisiana Tech...... 000 023 610 - 12 14 1 (1-4)
McNeese............. 010 000 010 - 2 9 1 (4-1)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pitchers: Louisiana Tech - Phil Maton; Adam Atkins(8); Jared Keating(9) and Jacob Derouen;
Michael Deceglie. McNeese - Prejean, Cole; Williams, Jacob(6); Erickson, Tyler(6);
Day, Tyler(7); Sefcik, Lance(7) and Toole, Cameron; LaRosa, Garrett.
Win-Phil Maton(1-0) Loss-Prejean, Cole(0-1) T-2:36 A-588
HR LATECH - Bre'shon Kimbell (1); Bryce Stark (1).
HR MCN - Gallier, Matt (2).
Williams, J. faced 4 batters in the 6th.
