LAKE CHARLES – Senior first baseman
Connor Crane's home run in the eighth inning sealed the deal for the McNeese baseball team as it topped Bradley, 3-1, Saturday afternoon to even the weekend series at Cowboy Diamond.
The two squads will meet in the rubber match Sunday morning with a 10:30 first pitch. The contest is slated to be broadcast on KEZM-1310 AM and on kezmonline.com.
With the Pokes clinging to a one run lead in the bottom of the eighth inning, Crane launched his second tater of the year deep over the left field wall. His homer cushioned a McNeese lead to a 3-1 score that was able to hold until the very end.
"Crane is incredibly athletic and is a gifted player talent-wise," said head coach
Justin Hill. "Some guys just rest on their talents but he works hard and does a great job at first base. He has the potential to be the player that he is and a great player. When he is going then we are pretty good."
The Cowboys offense was superb in the second game of the series with nine hits and were led by Crane who was 3-for-4 on the day with two runs score and two RBI.
Shane Selman and
Lewis Guilbeau recorded multiple hit games with two apiece. In total, five different Pokes laced the ball during the game.
Freshman
Bryan King (1-0) enjoyed a quality start but most importantly picked up his first career win after having tossed seven innings and allowed only one run to score. He scattered seven hits along the way and struck out six batters in the process.
"Bryan has done a great job every time out," said Hill. "He throws the ball in the zone and our guys play good defense behind him. He has his own energy to him and I know our guys feed off of that. We came out a bit more sharp today."
The Cowboy bullpen cleaned up the rest of the contest as
Trent Fontenot relieved in the eighth inning with no runs given up.
Collin Kober picked up his third save on the season with just one hit and a strikeout in the final frame.
Junior third baseman
Matt Gallier's RBI-single in the fourth inning got McNeese on the board with a 1-0 lead over the Braves. Gallier was able to slip a single around the shortstop that allowed Crane to get home.
However, Bradley would not go away quietly as they used back-to-back doubles to tie the ballgame at 1-1 in the top of the fifth frame. Saturday's loss to the Cowboys is the first for the Braves in the series history.
It was Crane again that was a major factor in the scoring as shot a single up the middle and helped the Cowboys regain the lead as Selman played the second run of the ballgame.
Each team had a chance to add more runs on the board as McNeese left the bases loaded in the fourth while Bradley stranded runners in scoring position in the top of the eighth inning. The Braves left seven total on base while the Pokes stranded five.
McNeese 3, Bradley 1 (Mar 05, 2016 at Lake Charles, La.)
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Bradley............. 000 010 000 - 1 8 1 (4-5)
McNeese............. 000 110 01X - 3 9 1 (5-5)
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Pitchers: Bradley - Roegner, Cameron; Stong, Nathan(8) and Fairchild, Zach. McNeese -
King, Bryan; Fontenot, Trent(8); Kober, Collin(9) and Toole, Cameron.
Win-King, Bryan(1-0) Save-Kober, Collin(3) Loss-Roegner, Cameron(0-2) T-2:22 A-773
HR MCN - Crane, Connor (2).
Weather: 72; Clear; Wind: 4 SE
King, B. faced 2 batters in the 8th.
