LAKE CHARLES – McNeese State senior
Connor Lloyd had a little magic left over from his game-winning hit on Tuesday night to deliver another victory for the Cowboys baseball team who took down UTSA in a 6-5 ten inning showdown at Cowboy Diamond Friday night.
The game-winner came only three days after Lloyd delivered a shot to the outfield to help the Pokes defeat in-state foe Louisiana-Lafayette for the first time in five seasons in a 17 contest.
Facing two outs away from entering another extra inning, McNeese (6-4) buckled down and battled as junior
Lewis Guilbeau was able to reach base on an error followed by senior
James Cantu's bunt single that allowed the Cowboys to have two runners on the bags and a solid hitter in Lloyd at the plate.
Just two pitches into the at-bat, Lloyd dropped a beautiful single into left field, allowing Guilbeau to round third and score the game-winning run at the plate.
"That was a good job by Connor who was able to get the hit with two outs," said head coach
Justin Hill. "I thought Lewis (Guilbeau) was running the line pretty good and I also thought
James Cantu did what he needed to do to try to extend the inning."
The multi-hit performance was Lloyd's second straight and third overall on the season. Senior
Andrew Guillotte followed suit, hitting 2-for-4 in the game along with an RBI, a walk and a run scored. In total, nine different batters recorded a hit in the contest for McNeese.
After running into trouble early during the first two frames, the Cowboys turned to reliever
Cole Prejean in hopes of getting the squad out of a 3-0 deficit. Prejean did not disappoint, firing off 4.2 innings and not allowing a single run to score despite giving up four hits. He also fanned a season-high five batters in the process.
"
Cole Prejean pitched well for us tonight after coming into a three run deficit," said Hill. "In the top of the 4
th when UTSA led off with the double and then we came back and retired the next three, I thought it was a game changer for us. Rather than give them a four run lead we were able to keep it a tight ballgame."
Junior
Collin Kober stepped on the mound for the last two innings and picked up his first win on the year after having worked 2.0 innings without giving up a run or a walk.
UTSA (6-3) turned in three runs in the top of the third innings, which was highlighted by an RBI-single up the middle from third baseman C.J. Pickering. McNeese responded in the bottom side of the frame with an RBI-single from Guillotte to cut the lead to two runs.
In the sixth inning, the Cowboys unleashed four runs on five hits and an error. Guilbeau,
James Cantu,
Matt Gallier and
Cameron Toole each knocked in a run to help the Pokes take its first lead of the evening, 5-3.
Several streaks were continued in the sixth frame, led by junior
Connor Crane whose infield single allowed the first baseman to hit safely in all 10 games this season.
With the finish line in sight, the Cowboys would have to put in extra work again for the second game in a row as the Roadrunners drove in two runs in the top of the eighth inning to tie the ballgame up, 5-5.
McNeese will be back in action on Saturday as the Pokes take on UTSA in a twin bill scheduled for a 1 o'clock start. The game can be followed on live stats by logging onto McNeeseSports.com.
McNeese 6, UTSA 5 (Feb 27, 2015 at Lake Charles, La.)----------------------------------------------------------------------
UTSA................ 003 000 020 0 - 5 10 2 (6-3)
McNeese............. 001 004 000 1 - 6 11 1 (6-4)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pitchers: UTSA - Brock Hartson; Patrick Herbelin(6); Chance Kirby(7) and John Bormann.
McNeese - Fontenot, Kaleb; Prejean, Cole(3); LaPeze, Cory(8); Kober, Collin(9) and
Toole, Cameron.
Win-Kober, Collin(1-0) Loss-Chance Kirby(1-1) T-3:21 A-552
Weather: 47; Sunny; Wind: NE 10 MPH
HARTSON faced 3 batters in the 6th.
