LAKE CHARLES – The McNeese State baseball team hung in there with one of the top ranked teams in the country Tuesday evening but were unable to complete a late-game rally and fell short to No. 22 Houston, 5-4, at Cowboy Diamond.
The loss dropped the Cowboys to 22-19 on the season while Houston improved its record to 27-14 overall. The two teams are scheduled to meet again later in the season when McNeese travels to Houston on May 5.
The Pokes entered the final frame of the contest trailing by three runs and were down to their last out until senior
Connor Lloyd's first career home run gave the Cowboys new life and a chance to come-from-behind and score the win. However, Houston changed pitchers and were able to tame the Pokes for the victory.
It was the second time this season that McNeese hit three homers in a single game but were unable to secure the victory. The Cowboys launched three against ULM earlier in the month but fell to the Warhawks.
Starting pitcher
Trent Fontenot (3-3) fired off three scoreless innings but ran into rough patch in the fourth frame as he surrendered four runs. The inning was sparked by a leadoff strikeout-wild pitch and escalated to four runs scored off of two hits. Fontenot exited the game having tossed 4.0 total innings and allowed three hits and five walks along with two strikeouts.
Relievers
Cole Prejean and
Cory LaPeze shutdown the offensive attack from the Cougars as the two combined for 5.0 innings and allowed just one run to score despite giving up two walks. LaPeze finished the game with two strikeouts.
The Cowboys cut into the lead in the middle of the contest after receiving help from the power swings of juniors
Billy Sommers and
Connor Crane. Sommers' second tater of the season came in the fifth inning that cut the Houston lead to just three runs while Crane belted his seventh of the year to minimize the score to three runs.
McNeese posted seven hits on the night as opposed to Houston's three.
Offensively, Lloyd led the squad with a 1-for-4 performance along with two RBIs and a run scored. Senior
Andrew Guillotte batted 2-for-4 with a run scored in the ballgame while Sommers' and Crane's solo shots registered an RBI as well.
Guillotte continued to crawl towards the all-time stolen base mark Tuesday evening after swiping two bases during the contest. He now stands at 74 career stolen bases and is four away from tying the all-time mark held by former Cowboy Jace Peterson.
Guillotte also inched one step closer to passing another McNeese alumni in the record books. His two hits on the evening have placed him in a two-way tie with Shon Landry for third place in the all-time hits category.
McNeese will continue its homestand this coming weekend when the Pokes welcome in-state foe Nicholls to town for a crucial three-game Southland Conference series set to begin Friday at 6 o'clock.
Houston 5, McNeese 4 (Apr 21, 2015 at Lake Charles, La.)
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Houston............. 000 400 100 - 5 3 0 (27-14)
McNeese............. 000 010 102 - 4 7 1 (22-19)
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Pitchers: Houston - LONGVILLE, David; KASOWSKI, Marshall(7); WEIGEL, Patrick(9) and RICE, Ian.
McNeese - Fontenot, Trent; Prejean, Cole(5); LaPeze, Cory(7) and Toole, Cameron.
Win-LONGVILLE, David(3-2) Save-WEIGEL, Patrick(1) Loss-Fontenot, Trent(3-3) T-2:20 A-714
HR MCN - Crane, Connor (7); Lloyd, Connor (1); Sommers, Billy (2).
Weather: 78; Sunny; S 4 MPH
Fontenot, T. faced 1 batter in the 5th.
Longville faced 1 batter in the 7th.
