No. 15 LSUS Doubles-Up No. 9 Mobile
January 23, 2009
MOBILE, Ala—The No. 15 LSUS Pilots picked up a pair of wins versus No. 9 Mobile to open the season Friday, as the Pilots swung hot bats to the tune of 36 combined runs in the double-header.
Game 1: LSUS 14 - Mobile 8
Big games from the Pilots’ Craig Barnes and Brent Lavallee, and a wild afternoon from the Rams’ pitching staff keyed the LSUS victory in Friday's opening game.
Barnes went 2-for-4 at the plate with a pair of homers and 4 RBIs, while Lavallee went 3-for-5 with a pair of homers and 7 RBIs to pace the offense. Meanwhile, the Mobile pitching staff had trouble shaking off the rust, hitting eight batters and walking nine.
Carlos Romero and Kevin Orso turned in banner days at the plate for the Rams. Romero jacked a pair of home runs to move into a tie atop the career leader board for home runs at Mobile, while Orso went 3-for-4 at the plate with 4 RBIs.
John James (1-0) picked up the win for the 15th-ranked Pilots, scattering 7 hits over 6 innings and giving up 5 earned runs. Nelson Curry (0-1) was tagged with the loss after surrendering 8 runs and walking 6 in 3.2 innings of action.
Barnes started the game with a 3-run bomb in the 1st inning after a pair of hit-batsmen set the stage. But, the Rams fought back as Orso stroked a pair of run-scoring hits in the 1st and 3rd innings, and Romero hit his first home in the 3rd for a 5-4 lead.
The Pilots quickly responded by batting around in the 4th to retake the lead that they would hold the rest of the way.
Game 2: LSUS 22 - Mobile 1
Game two was not as close, as the Pilots used an explosive 1st inning to put the contest away. In that opening inning, the Pilots saw their first seven batters reach and three balls leave the yard, before the Rams could record an out. Twelve men came to the plate in all as LSUS took a 7-0 lead after 1 inning.
The Pilots continued to swing the bats, scoring 22 runs on 18 hits, including 7 homers, but they did not need to as lefty Justin Ennis shut down the Mobile bats with a complete-game 3-hit effort in the 7-inning contest.
Lavallee swatted 3 home runs in the game, finishing 6-of-10 with 12 RBIs and 5 homers in the double header. All nine Pilots' starters recorded at least one hit, with six recording multi-hit games. Mobile's lone run came in the form of a David Cramblitt solo homer.
The teams will finish the series with a 1:00 game on Saturday.
(Story courtest of the University of Mobile Sports Information Department.)
