CONWAY, Ark. – Senior outfielder
Andrew Guillotte rewrote the history books Saturday afternoon against Central Arkansas as he set McNeese State's record for career hits with a two-RBI, base hit in the second inning that helped lift the Cowboys to a 7-1 victory over the Bears.
Guillotte, who tied Charlie Kingrey's eight-year record with a hit during Friday night's contest, broke the mark with his 245th career hit on a two-out, two-RBI shot up the middle in the second inning. Guillotte, who leads the conference in hits this season, collected his 76
th hit of the season on Saturday. He is just two hits shy of tying his 78-hit season from one year ago.
"Wow, it was such a relief to get that hit and am just so thankful to everyone who had a hand in helping me get to this point," said Guillotte. "I am happy that I could make them proud."
McNeese (32-23, 18-12 SLC) finished the season with a victory on the road and will now swing its momentum towards the 2015 Southland Conference Tournament at Constellation Field in Sugar Land, Texas. The Pokes enter the postseason conference tournament as the fourth seed and will meet up with fifth-seeded Sam Houston State Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
"It was a good win for our guys today," said head coach
Justin Hill. "Scoring seven runs with two outs is a sign of a team playing well at the right time.
Ethan Stremmel pitched really well and our bullpen and defense was outstanding."
The Cowboys snapped a seven-game losing skid in the series against UCA. McNeese also picked up its fourth win out of its last five league games and won a league game on the road for the first time since March 28.
Guillotte's two-RBI hit helped spark an offensive attack against the Bears in the second frame. After taking a two run lead with two outs, freshman
Joe Provenzano and junior
Billy Sommers tacked on three more runs in the inning to help McNeese climb out to an early 5-0 lead.
"While I am sure that Andrew would have like to have broken the record at home, the second best option was to break it with a big two-out, two-RBI knock to give us the lead," said Hill. This is a great accomplishment for a great player and he earned it."
Stremmel (5-4) earned the win after five spectacular innings on the mound, holding the Bears to just one run on three hits and two walks with one strikeout.
The Cowboy bullpen combined to throw the last four innings and shut out the Bears while only having surrendered just one hit. Seniors
Cole Prejean and
Cory LaPeze along with sophomore closer
Collin Kober fanned eight batters in the process.
Riley Echols (3-4) was charged with the loss for Central Arkansas, after giving up five runs on four hits and two walks in a 1.2-inning start. Brad Hagerla pitched the majority of the game for the Bears, allowing no runs on just one hit before an apparent injury took him out of the game.
Notable offensive performances for the Cowboys came from Sommers, who finished 2-for-5 with a pair of RBIs, and senior
James Cantu, who posted his 17
th multiple-hit session on the year along with a run scored.
Connor Crane collected his 16
th multi-game of the season as he batted 2-for-5 with an RBI while Provenzano logged in Freshman of the Year stats with a hit, an RBI and two runs scored.
A two-out single to the outfield allowed UCA to cut into the lead during the fifth inning that made the score 5-1.
McNeese tacked on a pair of insurance runs to take control of the game. In the eighth inning, junior
Lewis Guilbeau added to his outstanding weekend on the diamond as he slid home on a wild pitch to make it a 6-1 ballgame.
Matt Gallier's sacrifice fly gave way to another run in the top of the final inning that allowed Lloyd to reach home and extend the lead to six runs over the Bears.
McNeese 7, Central Arkansas 1 (May 16, 2015 at Conway, Ark.)
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McNeese............. 050 000 011 - 7 12 0 (32-23, 18-12 SLC)
Central Arkansas.... 000 010 000 - 1 4 1 (27-22, 16-14 SLC)
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Pitchers: McNeese - Stremmel, Ethan; Prejean, Cole(6); LaPeze, Cory(8); Kober, Collin(9) and
Toole, Cameron. Central Arkansas - Echols, R.; Hagerla, B.(2); Beier, D.(6); Kemmerer, A.(7);
Gray, T.(9) and Deckard, C..
Win-Stremmel, Ethan(5-4) Loss-Echols, R.(3-4) T-2:48 A-310
Weather: cloudy, 76 degrees
