Houston Baptist Ousts Top-Seeded McNeese
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SUGAR LAND, Texas - Houston Baptist played a strong all-around game in a 5-4 victory over No. 1 seeded McNeese on Friday afternoon in the Southland Conference Baseball Tournament at Constellation Field.
The win by the Huskies sets up a 7 p.m. semifinal matchup Friday evening with Central Arkansas. Meanwhile, the regular-season champion Cowboys leave Sugar Land retaining hopes of receiving an at-large bid to the NCAA baseball tournament with the selection show scheduled for Monday.
Huskies starting pitcher Daniel Endsley recovered from a rough start to last 8 1/3 innings and pick up the win. He gave up 10 hits, four runs (three earned) and three walks to go with a pair of strikeouts while needing 131 pitches to navigate his day.
McNeese opened the scoring the in the top of the first inning on Ricky Ramirez's RBI single that brought around lead-off hitter Robbie Podorsky, who singled and advanced all the way to third on two separate wild pitches. Two batters later, Joe Provenzano singled up the middle to bring home Ramirez and make it 2-0.
Houston Baptist countered in the bottom of the second inning with a run that came via a Tyler Depreta-Johnson home run to left field, his second long ball of the year.
One inning later, the Huskies surged ahead 3-2, courtesy of Jake Pulcheon's single through the left side of the infield that brought home Zane Otten and Jack Fitzgerald.
Despite a variety of McNeese threats, it was a lead that the No. 4 seed would maintain.
Houston Baptist extended the margin in the fourth inning when Fitzgerald doubled to right field, scoring Christian Thames. The next hitter, Otten, picked up Fitzgerald with an RBI base knock to center field that moved the score to 5-2.
The Cowboys made it a two-run game in the fifth frame when Matt Gallier singled in Ramirez. It remained a 5-3 affair until McNeese closed the gap further in the eighth inning. Provenzano walked then advanced all the way to third via a throwing error on an attempted pickoff at first base. Provenzano came home thanks to a Shane Selman sacrifice fly to right field.
The McNeese comeback fight continued into the ninth, beginning with a Dustin Duhon one-out single that chased Endsley. The Huskies brought in Zach Carter from the bullpen. Carter gave up a single to Ramirez before nailing down the win with a 6-4-3 ground ball double play off the bat of Gallier.
Every game of the Southland Conference Baseball Tournament will be carried live on ESPN3. Southland assistant commissioner Chris Mycoskie will handle play-by-play duties, while several Southland teams' radio announcers will also showcased in the ESPN3 booth during the early rounds. For the title game, Mycoskie will be matched with color analyst Greg Swindell, a former first-team All-American at the University of Texas and 17-year Major Leaguer.