TUCSON, Ariz. - The McNeese baseball team dropped a 12-3 decision to No. 7 Arizona Saturday afternoon as the Cowboys committed a string of errors that allowed the Wildcats to take advantage offensively and turn in its third victory of the weekend series.
With the loss, McNeese dropped to 4-3 overall on the season and 1-3 on the road while the Wildcats stretched its perfect record to a 7-0 mark to start the season.
Both teams will be back on the diamond Sunday to complete the series starting at 1 p.m. central standard time. The game can be viewed live by logging on to McNeeseSports.com and clicking the link under the baseball schedule page.
For the third time in the series, the Pokes gained the first lead of the series, this time in the top of the second inning following a two-out, RBI single from junior first baseman
Mitchell Rogers.
Rogers was the class of the field for McNeese on Saturday finishing with a 2-for-3 mark on the day along with two RBI's and a run scored.
Shane Selman and
Matt Gallier were the only other Pokes to post multiple-hit games with two each.
McNeese led the Wildcats until a pair of Cowboys errors in the bottom of the third allowed Arizona to tie up the contest, 1-1.
Once again, a huge offensive inning allowed the Wildcats to gain control as they plated four runs in the fourth inning for a 5-1 lead over McNeese. The Pokes committed another error during the frame allowing Arizona to take advantage of the hiccup and score a run.
Rogers' first collegiate home run in the fifth inning provided some relief for the Cowboys as the solo shot cut the lead to a 5-2 score but Arizona used another big frame in the sixth and put up three runs for an 8-2 lead.
Sophomore
Jake Cochran cut the Arizona lead again the eighth as he singled to center and scored Gallier from third base for an 8-3 score.
Arizona would cash in another McNeese error in the eighth and score four runs to go up by nine over the Pokes.
Austin Sanders (1-1) was charged with the loss after giving up three earned runs and three hits in 3.1 innings of work.
The five errors were the most by a Cowboys squad since McNeese committed five against Washington State last season.
Arizona 12, McNeese 3 (Feb 25, 2017 at Tucson, Ariz.)
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McNeese............. 010 010 010 - 3 9 5 (4-3)
Arizona............. 001 403 04X - 12 15 0 (7-0)
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Pitchers: McNeese - Sanders, Austin; Wesley, Tyler(4); McLemore, Peyton(6); Fliger, Avery(8);
Guidry, Hayden(8) and Duhon, Dustin. Arizona - Gomez, Rio; Deason, Cody(6); Schnabel, Austin(9)
and Haug, Ryan; Salazar, Cesar.
Win-Gomez, Rio(2-0) Loss-Sanders, Austin(1-1) T-3:28 A-2966
HR MCN - Rogers, Mitchell (1).
Weather: Sunny, mid 60s
