LAKE CHARLES – McNeese State senior
Lucas Quary recorded a pair of two-run homers while a quartet of hurlers combined for nine scoreless innings of baseball to help the Cowboy baseball team to a 8-0 shutout victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in a non-conference Monday night tilt at Cowboy Diamond.
In his last nine at-bats, Quary has launched an impressive five missiles out into the McNeese athletic complex parking lot. The five total taters that he has produced throughout the last four days has abled him to take control of the Southland Conference home runs list with a league-high five. Quary has now hit at least one homer in the last three contests.
"You never get up from a hot slot machine," said head coach
Justin Hill of Quary's performance. "People in this town can relate to that."
Starting pitcher
Ethan Stremmel (3-1) worked five beautiful innings of shutout baseball allowing only two hits and two walks and fanned six batters in the process. He is now tied for most wins among the Cowboys pitching staff.
Relievers
Cole Prejean,
Cory LaPeze and
Collin Kober combined for four innings and recorded four strikeouts and allowed only two hits to help complete the shutout over the Islanders. The shutout was the Pokes' first since March 19, 2013 against Harvard.
McNeese (15-6) extended its home-winning streak to seven games with the mid-week victory and a four-game streak overall. The Pokes have now won eight out of their last 10 contests. With the loss, AMCC dipped to 10-7 on the year.
"Our kids are playing well right now and are seeing the bigger picture," said Hill. "They are playing in the moment right now and the thing that we told them is that it wasn't planned like this but we just played really good baseball four days in a row. This is going to be something we ask this team to do in late May or in a conference tournament. They have shown the ability to stay locked in and swing the bats and deliver clutch pitching along with good defense. We have shown the ability to do that so the confidence is there the next time we are in that situation."
Quary led the way for the offense as he batted 2-for-4 with four RBI and two run scored. Senior outfielder
Andrew Guillotte recorded another multiple-hit game as he went 2-for-5 with a run scored and a stolen base. Infielders
Connor Lloyd and
Connor Crane each knocked in two runs apiece.
Guillotte's career stolen base mark now stands at 67 total as he is now two away from tying for second on the all-time McNeese steals list. He also upped his career hits to 203 and now stands in fifth place all-time as he passed Stuart Landreneau with his two hits in the contest.
The Pokes got out to a two run lead in the second inning as Quary lifted a two-run no-doubter into the parking lot in left field that drove in outfielder
Lewis Guilbeau who had walked to lead off the inning.
For the second game in a row, the McNeese offense batted through the lineup twice as the Pokes scored four runs in the fifth inning to take a 6-0 lead and help put the game out of reach. Crane and Lloyd each delivered a pair of two-RBI hits in clutch situations.
In the eighth inning, Quary his fifth tater of the season over the wall and rounded the bases along with Guilbeau to up the lead to eight runs and an eventual 8-0 score over AMCC.
McNeese will be back in action over the weekend as the Cowboys take the long trip out to West Texas. The Cowboys will visit Abilene Christian for a three-game league series that is slated to begin Friday at 6 o'clock.
McNeese 8, A&M-Corpus Christi 0 (Mar 16, 2015 at Lake Charles, La.)
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A&M-Corpus Christi.. 000 000 000 - 0 4 1 (10-7)
McNeese............. 020 040 20X - 8 9 0 (15-6)
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Pitchers: A&M-Corpus Christi - Skapura,Devin; Harris,Garrett(5); Schnuriger,Tyer(5);
Holland,Nolan(5); D'Spain,Dalton(6); Flores,Aj(7); Allec,Brian(8) and Balfantz,Scott;
Hermanson,Lukas. McNeese - Stremmel, Ethan; Prejean, Cole(6); LaPeze, Cory(8); Kober, Collin(9)
and Toole, Cameron; LaRosa, Garrett.
Win-Stremmel, Ethan(3-1) Loss-Skapura,Devin(1-2) T-2:28 A-640
HR MCN - Quary, Lucas 2 (5).
Weather: 78; Sunny and Warm: SSW 6 mph
Schnuriger faced 2 batters in the 5th.
