LAKE CHARLES – Catcher
Cameron Toole drove in two runs Friday night and right-hander Kaleb Fontenot pitched seven solid innings to lead the McNeese State baseball team to a 5-2 victory over Incarnate Word.
The win came before the biggest crowd of the season as over 887 people filled the stands at Cowboy Diamond to see their beloved Pokes top the Cardinals in the opening game of the conference weekend series.
"The energy tonight was awesome," said head coach
Justin Hill. "Our staff did a great job of getting people out to the ballpark tonight and we ended up having our biggest crowd so far."
The Cowboys improved to 12-6 overall and 3-1 in Southland Conference play while Incarnate Word dropped to 7-11 and 1-3 in league action. McNeese has now won four straight at home and eight out of its last 10 contests.
"It was good to come back home and you could just feel the energy seeping from our guys tonight," said Hill. "We were on a road swing for a while and it was just nice to be back home and play. It was also out first night game at home since opening weekend because of all of the weather. Our guys were excited overall about tonight."
Toole was 2-for-3 Friday with a double and two runs batted in. First baseman
Connor Crane also gave a multiple-hit performance batting 2-for-4 on the night along with an RBI and a run scored. Seven Cowboys combined to give McNeese nine hits in the ballgame.
"I thought we played about as good as I have seen us play from top to bottom," said Hill. "Everybody contributed to the victory today. Kaleb (Fontenot) and Cole (Prejean) did well and kept the innings small. It wasn't the best conditions out there on the field but I thought both teams handled it well. It was just a good game all around.
Fontenot (3-1) worked six innings for the win, limiting UIW to two runs (one earned) on eight hits with only one walk and six strikeouts.
"Kaleb was in command of himself and the game throughout the game," said Hill. "UIW was able to get some hits but I thought that our defense played really well. We had a couple of plays that we should have made but Kaleb pitch right around that and it didn't seem to phase him."
Reliever
Cole Prejean entered the contest in the eighth inning and picked up his first save of the season after having allowed only one hit and no runs.
McNeese grabbed a two run lead in the bottom of the second when Toole shot a double straight down the left field line to score designated hitter
Lucas Quary and shortstop
Connor Lloyd.
The Cardinals cut the lead in half in the fourth frame as Brance Kahle lifted a single into right center to score Ethan McGill who reached base on a single and advanced to second on a throwing error.
The Pokes stretched their lead to two runs in the fifth inning on an RBI-single from Crane that scored second baseman
Joe Provenzano to make it a 3-1 score in favor of McNeese.
UIW was locked in and ready to make it interesting in the latter part of the sixth frame after juicing the bases with only one out in the inning. A wild pitch allowed UIW to score from third and cut the lead to just one run. However, Fontenot was able to settle down and pitch out of a dangerous situation by retiring the next two batters on a groundout and swinging strikeout.
McNeese used a one out wild pitch to extend its lead to two runs in the seventh and added another in the eighth frame off of Lloyd's RBI-groundout.
The Cowboys will be back in action on Saturday when they face UIW in game two of the series with first pitch slated for a 3 o'clock start. The game will be available to listen to on Cajun Radio – 1470 AM and on CajunRadio.com.
McNeese 5, Incarnate Word 2 (Mar 13, 2015 at Lake Charles, La.)----------------------------------------------------------------------
Incarnate Word...... 000 101 000 - 2 9 1 (7-11, 1-3)
McNeese............. 020 010 11X - 5 9 2 (12-6, 3-1)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pitchers: Incarnate Word - Looper, Kris; Shull, John(6); Encina, Geno(7) and Besett, Colton;
Pitts, Weston. McNeese - Fontenot, Kaleb; Prejean, Cole(8) and Toole, Cameron.
Win-Fontenot, Kaleb(3-1) Save-Prejean, Cole(1) Loss-Looper, Kris(0-2) T-2:01 A-887
Weather: 62; Cloudy; Wind: 9 WSW
Looper, K. faced 1 batter in the 6th
