LAKE CHARLES – It was a career night for junior designated hitter
Ricky Ramirez whose three runs and two hits helped the McNeese baseball team to a 5-2 Opening Day victory over Southern Illinois Friday evening at Cowboy Diamond.
Ramirez, who red-shirted last season, filled in the role of the designated hitter Friday but did not disappoint in his first appearance as a Poke.
He was the jumpstart that the Cowboys (1-0) needed in the first inning to take a 3-0 lead over the Salukis (0-1). He singled and later scored the second run of the frame on a rerouted throw from the shortstop.
In the fifth, with the Cowboys clinging to a one run lead, Ramirez came up big again after getting hit to lead off the inning. He stayed alive and allowed a sacrifice fly to bring him home to put the Pokes up 4-2 over SIU.
In the seventh inning, the Pokes tacked on the insurance run and again Ramirez scored and gave McNeese the 5-3 lead that would hang on until the end.
"Ricky is a good player and he has got a motor about him that allows our guys to feed off his energy," said McNeese head coach
Justin Hill. "He had a good night tonight with three runs scored. I can't say enough about him."
In front of its biggest opening day crowd since 2011, the Cowboys recorded their third consecutive victory to begin the season. It was a good day for those in attendance as well as the McNeese skipper.
"I thought with all of the energy and excitement that there was tonight, which is what our guys had been looking forward to up to today, we played wide open," said Hill. "We did make some mistakes throughout the night but I thought everything was aggressive and we will learn from that. If we can win and learn at the same time then that will be big for us."
The Pokes belted out eight hits to Southern Illinois' six while both teams were evened in the error column at two apiece.
Starting pitcher
Kaleb Fontenot (1-0) picked up his 14th career win after having worked 4.2 innings and allowed only two runs off of three hits. He struck out five batters and gave up only two walks in the process.
Collin Kober finished the game off in the last inning and was credited with his 10th career save. The junior reliever retired all three batters in just 13 pitches.
Perhaps, the biggest surprise of the night was freshman
Zach Rider who came in to relieve Fontenot and tossed 2.0 innings and allowed no runs despite two hits. He fanned one batter.
Seven different Cowboys picked up a hit in the opener while senior
Lewis Guilbeau and junior
Matt Gallier led the team with two RBI's each. Senior
Connor Crane also drove in a run in the first inning.
McNeese continues its three-game series Saturday when it faces Southern Illinois at 3 p.m.
McNeese 5, Southern Illinois 2 (Feb 19, 2016 at Lake Charles, La.)
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Southern Illinois... 000 020 000 - 2 6 2 (0-1)
McNeese............. 300 010 10X - 5 8 2 (1-0)
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Pitchers: Southern Illinois - Marciano,Joey; McPheron,Austin(4); Williams,Jacob(5);
McFadden,Connor(8) and Hutchins,Nick. McNeese - Fontenot, Kaleb; Rider, Zach(5);
Fontenot, Trent(7); Kober, Collin(9) and Toole, Cameron.
Win-Fontenot, Kaleb(1-0) Save-Kober, Collin(1) Loss-Marciano,Joey(0-1) T-3:20 A-881
Weather: Partly Cloudy; 74 degrees
McPheron faced 3 batters in the 5th.
