LAKE CHARLES – The McNeese baseball team's bats heated up quickly in game two of the Southland Conference series between the Cowboys and Houston Baptist as they used five extra-base hits and a 10-run inning to put away the Huskies in a 12-6 affair to even the series Saturday afternoon at Cowboy Diamond.
The season-high 12 runs were enough for McNeese (7-6, 1-1 SLC) to take the victory as it pounded out 14 hits in the ballgame and took advantage of three HBU errors. The Cowboys scored 10 runs in an inning for the first time since March 14, 2015 against Incarnate Word.
The hitting played a major factor in the win but it was the relief pitching led by senior reliever
Bryce Kingsley (2-0) that helped McNeese top the Huskies. Kingsley took the win after having tossed three inning and give up just one run off of two hits. He led the staff with six strikeouts on the day.
"I think that aside the ten-run inning, the reason we won the game was because of
Bryce Kingsley," said head coach
Justin Hill. "Bryce came in and slammed the door after coming in with runners on first and third with no outs. He only gave up one run there and was able to keep everything down and gave us three solid innings. "The bullpen was really good today."
Three other Poke relievers combined for three innings and allowed just two HBU hits and struck out five batters.
"Our guys came out and swung the bats today but we took advantage of a couple of mistakes they made," said Hill. "I thought our guys put the barrel on the ball and did really good in the second inning."
Leading the effort was a trio of Pokes with multiple RBI-efforts. Senior
Connor Crane, junior
Matt Gallier and sophomore
Joe Provenzano each drove in two runs during the contest.
Senior outfielder
Lewis Guilbeau was 4-for-5 in the contest along with an RBI and a run scored. Gallier was a triple shy of the cycle as he batted 3-for-4 on the day with two RBI and two runs scored. Crane was the only other Poke to collect two or more hits along with two RBI and a run scored.
In total, the Cowboys used hits from eight different players during the contest.
It was the Huskies who lit up the board in the first inning with a one run outing to begin the game. Houston Baptist had not trailed in the series until the second inning.
The Cowboys exploded for nine hits and 10 runs in the second inning including multiple-RBI plays beginning with sophomore
Joe Provenzano's two-run homer and followed with Crane's double that drove in two runs. Later in the inning, Gallier knocked his first tater out of the park to score two more runs and help McNeese gain a 10-1 lead over HBU.
The Huskies scored three in the third and one in the fourth to cut the lead in half. With the Cowboys leading 11-6 in the bottom of the seventh, senior catcher
Cameron Toole took advantage of two wild pitches and scored to help stave off HBU for a 12-6 score. Toole also scored a run in the fifth inning and totaled three in the game.
"That is what we talked to our guys about afterwards is that we didn't play a complete game," said Hill. "I think we allowed the game to get closer than it should have. Credit to our guys for winning the game but I want us to play better.
The two teams combined for 26 hits and 18 runs in the game. The Pokes left nine on base and committed two errors while the Huskies stranded six and had three errors.
Both teams will meet back on the diamond Sunday afternoon for the rubber match. The Pokes will look to clinch their sixth consecutive home conference series beginning at 1 p.m.
Tomorrow's contest can be heard on KEZM – 1310 AM or kezmonline.com. Richard Dow will provided the call.
McNeese 12, Houston Baptist 6 (Mar 12, 2016 at Lake Charles, La.)
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Houston Baptist..... 10 3 101 000 - 6 12 3 (9-6, 1-1)
McNeese............. 0(10)0 010 10X - 12 14 2 (7-6, 1-1)
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Pitchers: Houston Baptist - Thames, Christian; Toal, Brody(2); Wick, Weston(8) and Thomas, Blake
; Martinez, Jacob; Garcia, Zac. McNeese - King, Bryan; Kingsley, Bryce(4); Ramirez, Ricky(7);
Stremmel, Ethan(8); Anderson, Grant(9) and Toole, Cameron.
Win-Kingsley, Bryce(2-0) Loss-Thames, Christian(0-2) T-2:42 A-526
HR MCN - Provenzano, Joe (1); Gallier, Matt (1).
Weather: 72; Broken Clouds; Wind: 4 ESE
King, B. faced 2 batters in the 4th.
