LAFAYETTE, La. – When it comes to a rivalry game between McNeese State and Louisiana-Lafayette, there is nothing short of an exciting contest, which was the case Tuesday night as the Pokes battled through and defeated the Cajuns, 5-4, in seventeen innings at "Tigue" Moore Field.
The extra inning affair was not the only time that the two squads had danced past the nine inning limit. The Pokes' 17 inning game was the second longest game in the series and came close to matching a 23-inning contest played against ULL in 1971.
The victory over Louisiana-Lafayette was McNeese's first in the previous six meetings against its I-10 rival. The last time that the Pokes scored a win against ULL was in a 5-4 victory in Lake Charles during the 2010 season.
In a contest that involved over 500 pitches, nine total runs, 29 total hits and 6 errors between both teams, the stakes couldn't have been any higher. The Pokes were looking to snap a four game losing skid while ULL's head coach Tony Robichaux sought his 1,000
th career win.
To say the least, McNeese was happy to see one of its players cross the plate for the final time during the game.
Nearly five hours after the first pitch was thrown, senior
Connor Lloyd's RBI-single in the top of the 17
th inning was enough to drive in junior
Connor Crane from third base to put the Cowboys ahead of their rivals with a 5-4 advantage on the scoreboard.
The lead would never be relinquished as freshman
Austin Briggs was brought in the bottom of the 17
th frame with one out. With the game on the line, Briggs delivered a spectacular performance, retiring the final two batters and securing the win for the Pokes.
Tyler Day (1-0) picked up the first win of his career as a Cowboy after tossing 1.1 innings and allowed no runs to score on no hits along with a strikeout.
Briggs was credited with the save following his game-ending putouts.
Combined, the McNeese pitching staff struck out 17 batters and allowed just four runs through the 17 frame stretch. ULL's staff fanned 16 batters and walked seven in the process.
Six Cowboys recorded multiple hits in the contest which was highlighted by Lloyd and junior
Lewis Guilbeau who each turned in three hits.
Andrew Guillotte,
Billy Sommers,
Connor Crane and
James Cantu each hit twice in the game.
It wasn't pretty but a throwing error at first caused by the Cajuns was enough to allow
Billy Sommers to score from third and break the Cowboys' 28 consecutive scoreless inning streak in the top of the first inning. After a triple deep to right field, Sommers was allowed to cross the plate as Guilbeau reached first base following a misthrow from the ULL catcher.
ULL responded with a run of its own in the bottom of the third inning as single and a throwing error committed by the Cowboys allowed the Cajuns to plate the tying run. Greg Davis' RBI-double to left center in the latter part of the inning gave Louisiana-Lafayette a 2-1 lead over McNeese.
Another set of unusual events played out in favor of the Cowboys in the top of the fourth inning when an RBI-hit from
Matt Gallier drove in one run for McNeese as well as another fielding error from the ULL outfield which scored
Kris Molter and give the Pokes another one run lead over the Cajuns with a 3-2 score.
The Cowboys' second miscue of the game in the bottom of the fifth frame allowed ULL left fielder Dylan Butler to advance from second to third followed by a ground out RBI-sac bunt and bring Louisiana-Lafayette back into the game as the Cajuns knotted up the score 3-3.
McNeese survived a scare in the bottom sixth as reliever
Collin Kober worked out of a bases loaded situation and prevented the Cajuns from unknotting the three run all tie. The Pokes used a grounder to third baseman Gallier who stepped on the bag to end the inning.
The Cowboys used another reliever in senior
Cory LaPeze to get McNeese out of a bases loaded situation for the second time in the bottom of the eighth inning. The Cajuns led off the inning with a double and juiced the bags on an intentional walk and a hit by pitch. LaPeze entered the game with the difficult task of getting the last two outs but buckled down and sent the last two batters away swinging.
Both teams each scored a run in the 10
th to knot the score up at four runs apiece and would continue to battle in limbo until the 17
th inning of the contest.
McNeese will return home to take on UTSA in a weekend series that is slated to begin on Friday, Feb. 27 at 6 o'clock.
McNeese 5, Louisiana 4 (Feb 24, 2015 at Lafayette, La.)
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McNeese............. 100 200 000 100 000 01 - 5 16 2 (5-4)
Louisiana........... 002 010 000 100 000 00 - 4 13 4 (4-4)
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Pitchers: McNeese - Stremmel, Ethan; Kober, Collin(5); LaPeze, Cory(8); O'Bryant, Steven(11);
Brast, Clay(13); Erickson, Tyler(15); Day, Tyler(16); Briggs, Austin(17) and Toole, Cameron.
Louisiana - Leger,G; Marks,W(5); Lee,C(7); Moore,D(11); Cooper,R(15); Bazar,R(15); Stoelke,L(17)
and Thurman,N.
Win-Day, Tyler(1-0) Save-Briggs, Austin(1) Loss-Stoelke,L(0-1) T-5:16 A-2213
Weather: 44 degrees, mostly sunny,NNE10
