BATON ROUGE, La. – Whether it was his career performance at the plate or the last batter of the game that he faced and struck out in only his first pitching appearance, McNeese State senior
Connor Lloyd did all that he could to help his team notch an important 13-5 road victory over Southern at Lee-Hines Field Wednesday night.
Lloyd enjoyed a career outing in the contest batting 4-for-5 along with a double, a triple, three runs scored and a career-high five runs batted in. The Marshall, Texas native joined fellow teammate
Andrew Guillotte as the only two Cowboys to have four hits in ballgame this season. His five-RBI performance comes just a few days after having watched junior
Cameron Toole accomplish the same goal against Nicholls.
The win improved McNeese to 25-20 on the season while the Jaguars dipped to 13-22 overall this year. The Pokes were able to snap a six-game road skid with the victory and also scored their first win at Southern's home field for the first time since defeating the Jags, 10-1, on March 1, 1990.
McNeese accounted for 16 hits in the contest and received multiple-hit performances from Lloyd, Guillotte and juniors
Connor Crane and
Billy Sommers. Crane turned in three RBIs and a stolen base on the evening while senior
James Cantu knocked in two in the middle of the contest. In total, McNeese received hits from eight different batters.
Starting pitcher
Trent Fontenot (4-3) worked the first inning and picked up the win despite surrendering a run off of three hits and a strikeout.
The bullpen was as equally effective in the contest as eight relievers combined to work the next eight innings and gave up only two earned runs on five hits. Together, the Pokes struck out 13 Jaguar batters.
Trailing by a run in the early going, McNeese responded with a five run explosion in the second inning as senior
Andrew Guillotte was able to load the bases and freshman
Joe Provenzano remained calm to draw a walk and tie the game. Lloyd opened up the inning with a two-run double and was followed by Sommers and Crane who helped extend the lead to a 6-2 score in favor of the Pokes.
After having tacked on another run in the third inning, McNeese received another score from senior
James Cantu who launched his second home run of the season in the top of the fourth frame. His two-run tater scored himself and Lloyd as the Pokes climbed out to a seven run lead over the Jaguars.
McNeese scored four more runs in the fifth inning that was highlighted by a pair of two-RBI single from Lloyd and Crane that extended the Cowboys' lead to 13-2 score over Southern. The two runs driven in by Lloyd totaled his RBI count to a team-high five on the evening.
It was the third time this season that McNeese scored 10 or more runs in a game.
Southern scraped across three runs in the sixth and seventh innings before being blanked the rest of the way.
The Pokes will return to Southland Conference action this weekend as they welcome Stephen F. Austin to Cowboy Diamond for their final three-game conference series of the season. First pitch is slated for a 6 o'clock start.
McNeese 13, Southern 5 (Apr 29, 2015 at Baton Rouge, La.)
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McNeese............. 151 240 000 - 13 16 4 (25-20)
Southern............ 200 001 200 - 5 8 2 (13-22)
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Pitchers: McNeese - Fontenot, Trent; Quary, Lucas(2); Day, Tyler(4); Briggs, Austin(5);
Brast, Clay(6); LaPeze, Cory(7); Williams, Jacob(8); Sefcik, Lance(9); Lloyd, Connor(9) and
Toole, Cameron; LaRosa, Garrett. Southern - Myles, Harold; Diaz, Rafeal(3);
Franklin, Daniel(5); Wallace, Jacob(6); Flynn, Ryan(8) and DeLa Torre, Jose.
Win-Fontenot, Trent(4-3) Loss-Myles, Harold(0-4) T-2:57 A-59
HR MCN - Cantu, James (2).
Weather: Partly Cloudy; Temp: 72
