Baseball: Pilots take final game of Carey Series to avoid sweep
February 02, 2013
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The no. 2 LSU Shreveport Pilots (1-2) avoided an opening series sweep by defeating the William Carey Crusaders (2-1) 12-1 in seven innings in the second game of Saturday's double header at Milton Wheeler Field after falling in game one 9-8.
GAME 1 (L, 9-8)
The Pilots showed a little more offensive production than the series opener with eight runs and eight hits but still came up on the short end 9-8 to the Crusaders. LSUS got off to a fast start with three runs in the first inning with Kyle Pearson and K. J. Semien each driving in runs with singles.
William Carey did the majority of the damage in the bottom of the second inning with eight runs as they took advantage of another breakdown by the Pilots pitching staff who allowed three hits, walked two and hit two to ignite the big inning as the Crusaders took a commanding 9-4 lead that was never gotten back by the Pilots.
Most of the Pilots' offensive production came from Pearson and Semien as Pearson was a perfect three-for-three, including his first homer of the year, with three runs batted in while Semien drove in the one run and was three-for-four.
LSUS scored once in the seventh with Reed Lavallee with a one-out sac-fly but it left the tying run stuck at first base as the game ended after a pop out in foul territory.
The second reliever of the day for the Pilots, Trent Cormier, did a good job in keeping the Crusaders off the board since the big third inning as he tossed three and 1/3 innings allowing four hits, no runs, three walks and two strikeouts.
GAME 2 (W, 12-1)
Kyle Pearson stole the show again offensively for the Pilots driving in two and was two-for-four while Greg Friesen also drove in a pair with a big two-run single as part of a five-run top of the seventh helping the Pilots ten-run their former Gulf Coast Athletic Conference rival.
Reed Lavallee helped set the table for Pearson as the young catcher occupied the lead-off spot nicely with three hits in five trips while Manny Estrada was the only other Pilots with a pair of hits.
The Pilots finally got a quality out from their starting pitcher as Jason Mouton had the longest outing of any of the LSUS starting pitchers as he picked up the win after five and 2/3 scattering six hits allowing just one earned run and only walked two while striking out seven.
Paul Barton showed some life out of the pen much like Ben suit yesterday as Barton came in with the bases loaded and two-outs in the bottom of the sixth inning as he fanned William Carey's pinch-hitter Tre Keyes to end the Carey threat.
Barton polished off his perfect outing by striking out two of the three batters that he faced in the seventh finished with an inning and 1/3 facing four batters and striking out three.
The Pilots will take on the Houston-Victoria Jaguars in their next contest at Pilot Field next Friday (Feb. 8 and 9) with a single game at 6 p.m. and the double header scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday.
