SAN ANTONIO, Texas – For the second consecutive game, the McNeese baseball team shined as the Cowboy pitching staff combined to post a 1-0 shutout victory over Incarnate Word and clinch the Southland Conference series in San Antonio.
Freshman right-hander
Bryan King (2-0) pitched a career game for the Pokes as he scattered just four hits and walked two batters while striking out a career high seven.
"
Bryan King was great today," said Cowboys head coach
Justin Hill. "He kept the momentum in our dugout and our defense in the game."
He was followed by the works of relievers
Trent Fontenot who continued the shutout with two strikeouts in two frames while junior ace
Collin Kober picked up the save after having worked the last inning.
It was the fourth save of the season for Kober, who moved up to third on the McNeese all-time saves list with 13 career saves.
The consecutive shutouts are the first for a McNeese (10-8, 3-2 SLC) team since doing so three years ago to the date as it blanked Harvard in a doubleheader in Lake Charles. It was also the first time that a Cowboy baseball squad shut out a league opponent in back-to-back games when they kept ULM scoreless in 1994.
Holding the Cardinals to only four hits in the game, it is the ninth time this year that the Pokes have held an opponent to three runs or less.
With the loss, Incarnate Word dropped to 4-15 overall and 0-5 in league play.
The Cowboy offense churned out seven hits and was led by senior
Lewis Guilbeau's two hit effort in the game. Guilbeau's RBI-single in the sixth inning plated McNeese's only run in the game but was enough to keep the Pokes afloat and help secure the series win.
Six different McNeese batters recorded a hit during the contest.
"The wind was blowing in hard and we hit a lot of balls on the nose that were right at them or got held up by the elements," said Hill. "That's part of the game and I was proud of our guys for finding a way to win the game."
UIW looked to get on board in the second frame but left a runner in scoring position as King and the Pokes shut down the Cardinals at the plate. Incarnate Word would get a runner to second just once more in the ballgame while a Cardinal batter optioned to leave third and was thrown out at home during a play in the sixth inning.
Fontenot and Kober combined to retire the final nine batters of the ballgame and secure the series win for McNeese.
The Cowboys will look for the series sweep Sunday afternoon against Incarnate Word with first pitch set for a 1 o'clock start. The game can be followed via Live Video and Live Stats on CardinalAthletics.com and on Twitter by following @McNeeseBaseball.
McNeese 1, Incarnate Word 0 (Mar 19, 2016 at San Antonio, TX)
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McNeese............. 000 001 000 - 1 7 0 (10-8, 3-2 SLC)
Incarnate Word...... 000 000 000 - 0 4 2 (4-15, 0-5 SLC)
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Pitchers: McNeese - King, Bryan; Fontenot, Trent(7); Kober, Collin(9) and Toole, Cameron.
Incarnate Word - Shull, John; Moszkowicz, Lance(7) and Divelbiss, Christian.
Win-King, Bryan(2-0) Save-Kober, Collin(4) Loss-Shull, John(0-2) T-2:10 A-319
Weather: 57 and breezy
