SUGAR LAND, Texas – Survive and advance.
That was the battle cry for the McNeese baseball team Friday morning as the Cowboys survived a Southland Conference Tournament record 13-inning duel against New Orleans and avoided elimination in an 8-4 victory over the Privateers.
With the win, the Cowboys (31-24) advanced to the championship of their side of the bracket where they await a rematch against Southeastern Louisiana. The game is slated to start 30 minutes after the Stephen F. Austin-Central Arkansas contest and will be broadcast on ESPN3.
It was the bat of freshman
Shane Selman that played a huge part in lifting McNeese to its second win of the tournament as he led the team with four hits and three RBI on the day.
The Lake Charles native began to influence the game in the top of the fourth inning as his two-run home run broke a tie between the two squads and gave the Pokes a 4-2 lead over New Orleans.
"Shane had some big hits for our team today," said head coach
Justin Hill. "He had a home run that put us ahead and another to help stretch the lead out later in the game. He has done some special things for us this season and you just never know when it is going to come. That is why we are able to stick with him"
The Cowboys had a chance to open up the lead again in the fifth but stranded the bases loaded. In total, McNeese left 16 runners on base during the game.
UNO had its chance to take a lead in the eighth frame as Dakota Dean tripled and then attempted to score at home on a sacrifice fly before Selman landed a beautiful throw from left field to senior
Cameron Toole at the plate who swiped Dean and the Privateers out of the inning.
However, the Privateers tied things up in the ninth with a pair of runs to send the game into extra innings.
"That was huge because it kept it at a two-run ballgame and then we had a chance to stretch it out later," said Hill. "There were all kinds of things we could have done to finished the game off in nine innings but it didn't work out that way. Credit our guys for finding a way to win today."
Three frames later it was sophomore
Joe Provenzano who made the biggest impact of the game as his RBI-sacrifice fly score the go-ahead run for the Pokes, who took a 5-4 lead.
It was the bat of Selman once again the made the difference in the game as his two-out, two-RBI triple provided the insurance runs needed to move the Pokes into the next round.
Collin Kober (3-4) picked up the win after working a career-high 5.0 innings of relief work in which allowed only one run on four hits with a strikeout to help pitch the Pokes past New Orleans.
"That is the most he has pitched this year but he has gone that long before," said Hill. "You prepare all year for moments like that if our staff asks you to. It wasn't certainly how we drew it up but there have been a lot of moments that went that way this season."
Starter
Bryce Kingsley tossed a quality start after having tossed 7.0 innings and gave up just two runs on eight hits with strikeouts.
McNeese cranked out 13 hits in the ballgame and had three multiple-hit outings including four from Selman, three from senior
Lewis Guilbeau and two from Provenzano.
McNeese 8, New Orleans 4 (May 27, 2016 at Sugar Land, Texas)
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McNeese............. 110 200 000 000 4 - 8 13 1 (31-24)
New Orleans......... 200 000 002 000 0 - 4 13 2 (31-26)
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Pitchers: McNeese - Kingsley, Bryce; Fontenot, Trent(8); Kober, Collin(9) and Toole, Cameron.
New Orleans - Warzek, Bryan; Brewer, Keaton(1); Semple, Shawn(4); Taylor, Jarred(9);
Martinez, Daniel(12); Medine, Hunter(13) and Bracey, Kyle.
Win-Kober, Collin(3-4) Loss-Medine, Hunter(3-2) T-4:25 A-0
HR MCN - Selman, Shane (10).
Weather: 77 deg, cloudy, SSE 12-14 mph
Fontenot, T. faced 1 batter in the 9th.
