NATCHITOCHES – The McNeese State baseball team's desire and will is what allowed the Cowboys to fight back from a four-run deficit and behind an 11-hit attack defeated Northwestern State 6-5 on Saturday afternoon to even the Southland Conference series between the two squads at Brown-Stroud Field.
The Cowboys will be back in action on Sunday when they meet the Demons in the series' rubber match that is set for a 1 p.m. first pitch. The game can be heard live on Cajun Radio-1470 AM and on CajunRadio.com. The contest can also be viewed live for a minimal fee at NSUDemons.com/watch.
The victory lifted the Cowboys to 17-10 on the season and 7-4 in conference action while the Demons dipped to 15-11 overall and 7-3 in league play.
Northwestern State scattered seven hits and took advantage of three Cowboy errors to take a four run lead over McNeese throughout the first six frames of the series.
It seemed as though the Demons were well on their way to the series clinching victory after retiring two batters from the Pokes dugout in the top of the seventh until pinch hitter
Lucas Quary delivered a clutch double down the left field line that scored senior
James Cantu and cut the lead to three runs.
Following a pitching change from NSU, senior outfielder
Andrew Guillotte launched a single deep into left field allowing Quary and junior
Lewis Guilbeau to slide in and a minimize Northwestern State's lead to a 4-3 score.
The single was Guillotte's 211
th career hit that helped him climb into fourth all-time on the all-time hits category. He was able to pass Seth Granger and is now 16 from reaching third all-time.
With determination and the mindset that no McNeese Cowboy will ever quit and fight until his very last chance, junior
Connor Crane hit a two-out RBI-single and scored Guillotte as the Pokes tied up the game at four runs apiece.
McNeese delivered the knockout punch on the next play as senior
Connor Lloyd launched a double down the left field line that plated the go-ahead run and gave the Cowboys their first lead of the game.
The Pokes tacked on an insurance run during the next inning following a sacrifice fly RBI from
Billy Sommers and gave McNeese a 6-4 lead that would hold until the end of the contest.
The comeback win was orchestrated by senior reliever
Cole Prejean (1-1) who scored the win after working two innings against the Demons and prevented an earned run from scoring and gave up only one hit and a walk along the way.
Collin Kober earned his sixth save of the season after having worked the final 2.2 innings against the Demons and allowed no runs to score on just one hit and no walks. He fanned three batters during the outing.
McNeese's 11-hit effort featured a 3-for-4 day at the plate by Cantu who scored a run while Guillotte's two RBI led the Cowboys in the contest. Provenzano and Guilbeau posted multiple-hit games with two hits apiece. In total, seven McNeese batters recorded a hit on the afternoon.
McNeese 6, Northwestern State 4 (Mar 28, 2015 at Natchitoches, La.)
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McNeese............. 000 000 510 - 6 11 4 (17-10, 7-4 SLC)
Northwestern State.. 011 011 000 - 4 8 1 (15-11, 7-3 SLC)
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Pitchers: McNeese - Fontenot, Trent; Prejean, Cole(5); Kober, Collin(7) and LaRosa, Garrett;
Toole, Cameron. Northwestern State - Oller, J.; Stane, B.(7); Hymel, C.(7); Tidwell, E.(8) and
Webster, CJ.
Win-Prejean, Cole(1-1) Save-Kober, Collin(6) Loss-Hymel, C.(0-2) T-2:56 A-465
Weather: 70 and sunny
Stane, B. faced 1 batter in the 7th.
