LAKE CHARLES – The McNeese baseball team used a pair of two-run homers and rode junior starter Kaleb Fontenot's first complete game shutout gem to a 4-0 victory in Friday night's non-conference series opener against Grambling at Cowboy Diamond.

Fontenot (7-3) retired 24 of the 30 batters he faced, including a stretch of 12 consecutive outs in his nine innings of work. He allowed five hits and compiled a streak of nine consecutive strikeouts in the first three frames. The junior right-hander tied a career-high strikeout mark with nine K's on the night.

"Kaleb was fantastic and did a great job for us on the mound tonight," said head coach Justin Hill. "It was his game and he threw the ball well. It was definitely the story of the game."

With the victory, the Cowboys improved to 29-21 on the season and have now scored five consecutive wins at Cowboy Diamond. The Tigers dipped to 8-35 overall this year.

McNeese posted its third shutout of the season and second within the last month. The Pokes blanked Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 8-0, on March 16, and held Lamar scoreless back on April 11^th in a 2-0 win.
Ike O'Bear (2-6) took the loss for Grambling after pitching five innings, allowing five hits and four runs.

Junior Billy Sommers added to his personal collection of taters after having lifted his fourth homer of the season out of the park in the bottom of the first inning, scoring senior shortstop Connor Lloyd in the process to go up by two runs over the Tigers.

Awaiting his turn was sophomore Matt Gallier who launched a two-run shot over the wall in the fourth inning that extended the Cowboys' lead over Grambling to a 4-0 score. Gallier's bomb was his seventh of the season. His homer scored himself and junior Lewis Guilbeau.

The McNeese defense ran into a rut during the third inning as Grambling advanced runners into scoring position via back-to-back base hits and a double steal. However, Fontenot and his troop of Pokes avoided any runs from the visitors after retiring the next two batters.

Fontenot entered another dangerous situation in the fifth inning when the Tiger's led off with a hit by catcher Roger Diaz. Diaz was able to move over to third after a couple of groundouts but was stranded in scoring position after a strikeout from Fontenot shot down another scoring attempt.

From then on, only one more Grambling runner was able to reach second base in the top of the ninth but was unable to find home plate following consecutive putouts.

Lloyd and Gallier each recorded two hits in the ball game while Sommers logged a hit, a run scored, two RBIs and a walk.

Both teams will meet again on the diamond in a Saturday twin bill with the first game slated to kick-off at 3 p.m. The doubleheader will be a special one as 11 McNeese baseball seniors will be recognized before the start of the first game while fans will get three chances to win a free car via a raffle in between the first and second game.

McNeese 4, Grambling 0 (May 08, 2015 at Lake Charles, La.)
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Grambling........... 000 000 000  -  0  5  1      (9-35)
McNeese............. 200 200 00X  -  4  6  0      (29-21)
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Pitchers: Grambling - O'Bear, Ike; Pruitt, Marlon(6); Woods, Torrean(7); Mckinney, Coleman(8)
and Diaz, Roger. McNeese - Fontenot, Kaleb and Toole, Cameron.
Win-Fontenot, Kaleb(7-3)  Loss-O'Bear, Ike(2-6)  T-2:03  A-749
HR MCN - Sommers, Billy (4); Gallier, Matt (6).
Weather: 82; Partly Cloudy; S 7 MPH