Athletics

The LSUS Pilots blasted the Auburn University-Montgomery Senators 12-2, invoking the “Mercy Rule” in the eighth inning, Tuesday night in Game 2 of the 2005 NAIA Region XIII Baseball Tournament.

The tournament is being hosted by LSUS and sponsored by CHRISTUS Schumpert Health System and the Shreveport-Bossier Convention and Tourist Bureau.

LSUS got to the Senators for four hits and three runs in the bottom of the first, after Auburn-Montgomery went down in order in the top of the frame.  Dustin Bissonnette, the Pilots junior second baseman, started the rally off with a double and came home on junior designated hitter Jeremie Chabot’s single.  Chabot and junior right fielder Chris Frye also scored in the inning thanks to a double by senior first baseman Kyle Mace and a wild pitch by the Senator’s Dan DeValk.

The Pilots junior right fielder Riley Cook rocketed a home run over the left field fence to start the bottom of the second inning, extending the Pilots’ lead to 4-0.  The rest of the inning was uneventful, as was the top half of the third.

Frye hit a one-out single in the bottom of the third and advanced to second on a stolen base.  A hard shot to right by Mace sent Frye across the plate advancing the score to 5-0. Sophomore shortstop Brandon Magierowski walked and sophomore catcher Scott Talley moved the runners to second and third. A Cook single drove in Mace and another Cooksey hit scored Magierowski, giving the Pilots a 7-0 lead.  After warming up the Senator’s third pitcher of the game and the inning, Auburn-Montgomery junior catcher Britt Clayton gunned down Cook leading off second to end the three-run inning.

AUM got to the Pilots for two runs in the top of the fifth.  Junior second baseman Jeremy Woodham led off with a walk and was advanced to second on senior Jeremy Lively’s single and both runners moved up a base on a fielding error. Woodham scored off the bat of senior left fielder Drew Danner and Lively came across the plate when senior right fielder Ryan Wilson singled.  A benign single between two outs left the score 7-2 midway through the fifth.  LSUS made no noise in the bottom of the fifth.

A bare-handed grab by LSUS sophomore pitcher Kevin Jewell and a double play dashed the Senators’ hopes of chipping away at the  Pilots’ lead in the top of the sixth.  The Pilots offense contributed to the speed of the game with a strike-out by Talley, a single by Cook before Cooksey hit into a double play to end the sixth.

The Senators were quiet in the top of the seventh and, after a Seventh Inning Stretch with a recording of legendary Chicago Cubs announcer Harry Caray’s “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” the Pilots loaded the bases with walks by Maddox and Chabot and a single by Bissonnette. Chris Frey went to the plate with the bases loaded, nobody out and struck out.  Mace, who took a shot to the arm from Danner in the fourth, walked scoring Maddox. Magierowski singled to score Bissonnette and bring on the Senator’s fourth pitcher of the night. Talley drove a sacrifice fly to left field scoring Chabot.  Cook’s fly out to left field ended the inning with the Pilots scoring three runs on two hits and three walks and leading 10-2.

Another one-two-three inning in the AUM half of the eighth brought LSUS to the plate needing only two runs to end the game early with the “10-Run Mercy Rule.”  Cooksey led off with a single setting up a game-winning home run by Maddox.

Jewell went the distance for the Pilots in recording the 12-2 win.

The Mercy Rule win brings back memories of the Pilots’ historic 2003 season in which they finished the NAIA World Series in Third Place and won two of their games by the 10-run rule.

LSUS will play Lee University at 6:30 Wednesday at Pilots Field.  Auburn-Montgomery will play William Carey College at 6:30 Wednesday at Captain Shreve High School baseball field.