LAKE CHARLES – Northwestern State starting pitcher Chase Hymel's seven inning scoreless outing was enough to snap the McNeese baseball team's four-game winning streak as the Demons posted a 7-1 victory to even the Southland Conference series Saturday afternoon at the newly branded Joe Miller Ballpark.
The two squads will meet each other at The Jeaux in the series rubber match Sunday with first pitch slated for 1 p.m.
Hymel picked up the win after keeping the Pokes off the board for the first seven innings as he scattered four hits and struck out two batters. The Demons used two relief pitchers for the next two frames and allowed only one run.
McNeese starter
Bryan King (2-1) was charged with the loss despite having worked 5.2 frames and gave up only two runs on four hits. His seven strikeouts in the contest tied a career high.
Northwestern State took a commanding lead over the Cowboys in the sixth inning as the Demons posted five runs on two hits. NSU tacked on two more runs in the eighth to make it a 7-0 ballgame. Nick Heath, who drove in five of Northwestern State's seven runs, hit a two run triple to extend the lead.
McNeese avoided its first shutout on the year as senior
Lewis Guilbeau drove in a run on a ground out with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning to cut the NSU lead to a 7-1 score.
The Cowboys stranded at least one runner in all but one inning during the game and left 10 total on the bags. Northwestern State left eight runners on base.
Seven different McNeese batters provided a hit during the ballgame, highlighted by
Joe Provenzano's hit that extended his reached base streak to 14 consecutive games.
Cameron Toole has now hit safely in seven straight games and reached in nine consecutive.
Sunday's contest can be heard on KEZM – 1310 AM and on kezmonline.com while fans can also follow the live action on Twitter by following @McNeeseBaseball.
Northwestern State 7, McNeese 1 (Apr 02, 2016 at Lake Charles, La.)
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Northwestern State.. 000 005 020 - 7 8 2 (15-12, 6-5 SLC)
McNeese............. 000 000 010 - 1 7 0 (14-10, 7-4 SLC)
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Pitchers: Northwestern State - Hymel, Chase; McDonald, Cullen(8); Bear, Devin(9) and
Richard, Kelsey. McNeese - King, Bryan; Rider, Zach(6); Ramirez, Ricky(6); Anderson, Grant(8)
and Toole, Cameron.
Win-Hymel, Chase(2-3) Loss-King, Bryan(2-1) T-3:03 A-841
Weather: 71; Sunny & Nice; Wind: NNW 16
Rider, Z. faced 3 batters in the 6th.
