LAKE CHARLES – No matter the circumstances, the McNeese baseball team always finds a way to win and did so Thursday night as the Cowboys came together and took down Abilene Christian, 10-6, in the first of a three-game Southland Conference series at Cowboy Diamond.
With the win, the Pokes improved to 11-9 on the year and 4-3 in SLC games. McNeese is now 8-5 at home and have won three out of the last five at Cowboy Diamond. ACU dipped to 9-12 overall and 2-5 in league games.
The two teams will meet again Friday evening as they continue the league series with a 6 p.m. first pitch.
The McNeese offense was on fire in Thursday's series opener after having pounded out 15 hits in the game, three of which were extra-base hits, while the team combined for seven stolen bases. The Pokes were led by the hitting duo of senior
Connor Crane and sophomore
Joe Provenzano as the two combined for six hits, five RBI and three runs scored. Each batter recorded three hits in the game while Provenzano led the team with three RBI.
The pitching staff did its part in keeping a salty Abilene Christian team at bay as the Pokes combined for 10 strikeouts and played a hand in stranding 11 Wildcat runners on base.
Senior hurler
Bryce Kingsley (4-0) remained perfect on the mound after having worked 5.2 frames and gave up no earned runs while scattering four hits and walking four batters. He led the team with five strikeouts on the evening.
Reliever
Trent Fontenot played a big part in the middle innings of the game once again as he came in and worked 1.2 innings with three strikeouts. Despite ACU loading the bases in the seventh with one out, Fontenot worked out of the jam with a pair of strikeouts to end the rally.
McNeese found itself having to dig out of hole early in the contest despite scoring in the first inning. Abilene Christian used two hits and a Cowboy error to plate three runs in the top of the third inning for a 3-1 lead.
However, McNeese heated the bats and posted four runs off of five hits in the bottom of the frame to regain the lead. Four different McNeese batters picked up an RBI during the inning that highlighted by Provenzano's RBI-double that knotted up the contest while senior
Lewis Guilbeau regained the lead with an infield single.
The Cowboys plated two more runs in the fourth inning courtesy of RBI-hits from Crane and Provenzano that stretched the lead to a 7-3 score.
ACU cut into the lead with two runs in the seventh but McNeese answered with three runs in the next two frames to go up 10-5 and prevent the Wildcats from catching up. Freshman
Jake Cochran came up big with two-out RBI single in the bottom of the seventh to help the Pokes extend the lead.
ACU scored one more run in the final inning to cut the lead again, 10-6, but left two runners stranded on the paths to end the game.
McNeese received two three-bag hits from both Guilbeau and junior
Will Fox in the game.
McNeese 10, Abilene Christian 6 (Mar 24, 2016 at Lake Charles, La.)
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Abilene Christian... 003 000 201 - 6 9 2 (9-12, 2-5 SLC)
McNeese............. 104 200 12X - 10 15 2 (11-9, 4-3 SLC)
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Pitchers: Abilene Christian - Kyle Carroll; Drew Hanson(4); Zach Kornely(7); Collin Dudley(8)
and Alex Copeland. McNeese - Kingsley, Bryce; Briggs, Austin(6); Fontenot, Trent(7);
Stremmel, Ethan(9) and Toole, Cameron.
Win-Kingsley, Bryce(4-0) Loss-Kyle Carroll(2-4) T-2:58 A-335
Weather: 68; Nice and Sunny; Wind: 14NW
Z. Kornely faced 2 batters in the 8th.
