New Orleans Survives with 7-5 Win Over Southeastern Louisiana
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SUGAR LAND, Texas – The University of New Orleans continues to make noise in the Southland Conference Baseball Tournament. The seventh-seeded Privateers topped second-seeded Southeastern Louisiana 7-5 on Friday morning at Constellation Field
The New Orleans offense was fueled by Hezekiah Randolph, who hit a second homer in as many games, and had three RBIs and three hits this morning. Randolph and his teammates scored in four different innings while the bullpen surrendered three runs in 6 2/3 innings.
Randolph’s homer in the bottom of the first inning initiated the New Orleans offensive attack. Randolph smashed a Carlisle Koestler offering over the left field fence to give the Privateers an early 2-0 lead. The blast came with two outs and after the previous hitter, John Cable, singled to right field.
New Orleans starting pitcher Riley Hodge retired the first seven batters he faced before getting into trouble in the top of third inning. With one out in the frame, Southeastern Louisiana catcher Evan Pace slammed a solo home run that landed in the pool beyond the left field fence to make it a 2-1 ballgame.
Hodge then walked Jacob Seward before hitting batter Ryan Byers. Privateers head coach Blake Dean went to the bullpen, calling on right-hander Reeves Martin. He retired Brennan Breaud and then tamped down the threat by inducing conference player of the year Taylor Schwaner to line out to the shortstop.
“Unbelievable battle – that’s unbelievable,” said Dean. “Hodge came out there and gave us a couple of good innings. We kept at ‘em. Reeves and DeMayo did a heck of a job stepping up, and our offense did the job.”
New Orleans maintained the 2-1 advantage until the fourth inning, when they manufactured a run to extend the lead to 3-1. Randolph slapped a one-out single up the middle before Dakota Dean was hit by a pitch. Spencer Miller walked to advance the runners. Then, Darren Willis hit a groundball shot to third base that was misplayed, giving Randolph the opportunity to race home with the third Privateers run.
The seven seed then pushed across two more in the fifth inning. With one out, Samuel Capielano hit a ground ball to the left side in what appeared to be a routine out. However, the throw was wide of first, allowing Capielano to advance to second. John Cable drew a walk, and then Randolph promptly belted a single up the middle scoring Capielano and making it 4-1. Dakota Dean helped tack on another run to make it 5-1 with a bloop single to left field to send Cable across home plate.
The Lions added a run in the sixth that started with a Taylor Schwaner walk. He moved to second on a pickoff attempt in which the throw was wide of first. Webb Bobo advanced Schwaner to third base on a groundout to second base. The home plate umpire then called a balk, which allowed Schwaner to score and cut the New Orleans lead to 5-2.
The Privaters added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth to make it 7-2. Palmer punched a double to center field with one out. Capielano moved him over to third with an infield single in advance of Cable’s ground ball hit up the middle, scoring Palmer. Randolph flied out to right, which was enough for Capielano to advance to third base. With Dakota Dean at the plate, a balk was called and Capielano scored.
The game remained 7-2 until the top of the ninth inning when Southeastern Louisiana clubbed back-to-back home runs. The first was a Derrick Mount rocket to left field, followed by a Drew Avans smash, also to left. Those two runs made it 7-4, which ended up as the final tally.
Hodge went 2 1/3 innings before Martin came on to deliver 3 2/3 innings of relief. Martin gave up one run, unearned, to earn the win. He gave way to Christopher DeMayo, who gave up the two home runs in three innings of work, and was credited with the save.
The victory advances the Privateers to a 4 p.m. date this afternoon against Sam Houston State. Southeastern Louisiana, who is projected to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA baseball tournament with an RPI of 37 going into today, moves to 36-20 on the year.
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.