LAKE CHARLES – The McNeese State baseball team put on an offensive show Saturday afternoon at Cowboy Diamond as the Pokes used three home runs, five doubles and a triple to cruise to a 16-7 victory over Incarnate Word for the series-clinching win.
In scoring the season-high 16 runs and improving to 13-6 overall and 4-1 in Southland Conference play , the Cowboys (13-6, 4-1 SLC) pounded out 14 hits, including scoring 10 or more runs in a single inning for the first time since April 18, 1999.
With the loss, Incarnate Word dropped to 7-12 overall and 1-4 in league action.
Leading the attack were a quintet of Pokes with multiple RBI-efforts. Senior
Andrew Guillotte led the way with three runs driven in while shortstop
Connor Lloyd, designated hitter
Billy Sommers, second baseman
Joe Provenzano and outfielder
Lucas Quary each collected two RBIs in the contest.
Guillotte was 3-for-6 in the contest along with a homer, a double, three RBI and three runs scored. Guillotte is now only one hit away from becoming just the sixth player in McNeese baseball history to record 200 hits in a career.
In total, the Cowboys used hits from nine different players during the contest.
Cowboys' right-hander
Bryce Kingsley (3-2) earned the win for McNeese after throwing 4.2 innings and allowing only two runs on six hits with two strikeouts. Incarnate Word starter Brandon Anderson was charged with the loss after allowing two runs on three hits in two innings of work.
Kingsley exited the game in the fifth inning with an apparent knee injury and was relieved by four relievers who combined for 4.1 innings of work and allowed only four earned runs in the ballgame.
After taking a two run lead in the second frame, the Cowboys exploded for seven hits and 10 runs in the third inning including multiple-RBI plays from Guillotte, Sommers, Provenzano and Lloyd. The Cowboys managed to hit for the cycle as a team delivering two singles, a homer, three doubles and a triple.
UIW was able to cut into the lead with a pair of runs in both the fifth and sixth innings while McNeese added two more runs to its lead in the bottom of the sixth frame with RBI plays from Quary and Guillotte.
The Cardinals tried for a comeback but were only able to tack on three runs in the seventh inning.
McNeese added insurance runs in seventh and eighth innings off of two homers. The first came in the bottom of the seventh as right fielder
James Cantu sent a missile over the right field wall to up the Cowboys lead while Quary launched his first homer of the season on the second pitch of his at bat in the eighth to extend the lead to a 16-7 score.
The Pokes will look for the series sweep on Sunday as they take on Incarnate Word beginning at 1 o'clock.
McNeese 16, Incarnate Word 7 (Mar 14, 2015 at Lake Charles, La.)
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Incarnate Word...... 000 022 300 - 7 15 1 (7-12, 1-4)
McNeese............. 11(10) 002 11X - 16 14 1 (13-6, 4-1)
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Pitchers: Incarnate Word - Anderson, Brandon; Richey, Cody(3); Decker, Matthew(3);
Hunter, Adam(3); Jones, Chris(4); Miller, Tyler(8) and Divelbiss, Christian. McNeese -
Kingsley, Bryce; Erickson, Tyler(5); Day, Tyler(6); Brast, Clay(7); Sefcik, Lance(8) and
Toole, Cameron.
Win-Kingsley, Bryce(3-2) Loss-Anderson, Brandon(1-2) T-3:09 A-672
HR MCN - Guillotte, Andrew (2); Cantu, James (1); Quary, Lucas (1).
Weather: 74; Mostly Sunny; Wind: 8 S
Decker, M. faced 2 batters in the 3rd.
Hunter, A. faced 2 batters in the 4th.
Erickson, T. faced 1 batter in the 6th.
Day, T. faced 3 batters in the 7th.
Brast, C. faced 1 batter in the 8th.
