Pilots dominate William Carey for series sweep
February 05, 2012
Saturday, Feb. 4
SHREVEPORT, La. - The LSU Shreveport Pilots baseball team got off to the kind of start that every team would like to with a double header win to start the season. The Pilots won the first game with a good out from starting pitcher Matt Lackie as they defeated the William Carey Crusaders 7-1 in game one while having an eight-strikeout performance from Jared Mortensen to lead the Pilots to an 11-1 win in game two.
GAME 1
The Pilots used a six-run fourth inning along with a quality outing from Matt Lackie (1-0) to win their first game of the 2012 season. Ridge Gonsoulin was the star at the plate for the Pilots reaching every time going three for three with four RBIs thanks to a fourth inning grand slam that put the Pilots on top 7-1 as Gonsoulin not only got the first hit of the season for the Pilots in the bottom of the first but his grand slam in fourth inning was the first home run of the season as well.
LSUS scored in the bottom of the first inning as a double steal by the Pilots plated Tyler Alton as Gonsoulin started the play and ended up at second on the steal. The Crusaders got their only run of the game in the top of the fourth inning as a grounder off the bat of Javier Ortiz went under the third baseman's (Devin Greco) glove to score Mitch Bohon from third to tie the game at one. Greco made up for it on the next play fielding the grounder to end the innings.
Lackie tossed six strong innings allowing three hits, three walks, and three strikeouts while Scotty Reese (0-1) suffered the loss for William Carey after three innings of work allowing three hits, five earned runs, and four walks. The only reliever for Carey, Sean Carter, allowed the grand slam to Gonsoulin as he finished the game pitching the final three innings allowing just one more hit.
Red-shirt freshman Reed Lavallee got his first start behind the plate for the Pilots and threw out a pair of base runners as he threw out Will White in the second inning who was trying to advance on a bunt and he gunned down Bohon in the sixth trying to steal.
The Pilots scored seven runs on five hits and committed just one error while Carey scored only one run on three hits and two errors.
GAME 2
The Pilots (2-0) used the ten-run rule for an 11-1 win to take care of the William Carey Crusaders in the second game of the double header. Jared Mortensen got better as the game went on for the Pilots on the mound as he struck out the four of the final six batters he faced.
LSUS pounded out 12 hits as Kyle Pearson had a pair of triples driving home two runners in the bottom of the sixth to extend the Pilot's lead to 8-1. Tyler Alton had a pair of hits along with Greg Friesen while Kym Barthel used a pair of bunt singles to a three for four night at the plate with three RBIs including the walk-off ten-run rule two-run single in the bottom of the seventh.
Mortensen tossed six innings allowing only two hits, one run, one walk and eight punch outs. Ben Suit threw a scoreless sixth inning.
J.D. Little (0-1) suffered the loss for the visitors after allowing four runs on four hits and five walks in four innings pitched.
The weekend series will conclude on Sunday at 1 p.m. as Logan Norris is expected to toe the rubber for the Pilots while William Carey should start Zach MaGee.
Sunday, Feb. 5
Pilots take Game 3 to complete series sweep
SHREVEPORT, La. - The no. 6 LSU Shreveport Pilots dominated the William Carey Crusaders for a 9-2 win at Pilot Field to earn the series sweep over their former Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Rival on Sunday afternoon.
The LSUS (3-0) pitching staff had a marvelous series in helping their team to a three-game winning streak to start the season. Logan Norris (1-0) picked up the win on Sunday after his three-predetermined innings of work while the bullpen worked the next seven innings of no-hit scoreless baseball.
Jake Kight tossed two and two thirds while Cam Ellis threw an inning and a third. Drew Middleton worked a 1-2-3 eighth as did Brandon Russell in the ninth. The pen retired the last eight batters of the game.
The LSUS' offense went to work early as they took the lead on a RBI-single from Manny Estrada for the 2-1 advantage in the first inning. The Pilots struck for four more runs in the second inning to take a commanding 6-1 lead. Tyler Alton and Kade Billeaudeaux each had RBI-singles in the frame while Estrada brought in a run with a sacrifice fly.
The Crusaders (0-3) scored one run in the first and third innings as Will White brought in the first run of the game with a sacrifice fly while an error on Javier Ortiz's batted ball plated the second run.
The Pilots added three more insurance runs in the fourth inning as they took advantage of three two-out walks by the William Carey pitcher Zach Magee as he loaded the bases for Stephen Hobbins who brought them all home with a three-run double.
Next for the Pilots will be three games on the road at Smith-Wills Stadium in Jackson, Mississippi, as they take on three teams in the NAIA preseason top 25 poll. Thursday's matchup will put the no. 6 Pilots against the no. 21 Southern Poly Runnin Hornets while Friday's contest they will matchup against no. 7 Cumberland. Both games Thursday and Friday will begin at 1 p.m. Saturday's game will begin at 4 p.m. against the no. 15 Belhaven Blazers.
