Pilots edge Loyola in second game for doubleheader split.
May 01, 2005
LSUS holds on for victory May 1, 2005 Pilots edge Loyola in second game for doubleheader split.
From Staff Reports
The LSU-Shreveport Pilots' offense fluctuated as much as the weather did on Saturday against the Loyola Wolfpack.
In game one of the doubleheader, the weather was gloomy and so was the LSUS offense as the Pilots lost in extra innings, 4-3.
However, in the second game of the day, the sun was shining bright and so were the faces in the Pilot dugout due to their 7-6 win.
"Our hitters made some steps in the right direction this weekend," LSUS coach Rocke Musgraves said. "Earlier in the year, our offense was about drawing walks and getting hit by pitches as well as getting big hits. Then when things went bad, we started pressing, chasing balls out of the strike zone. This weekend, our hitters started sitting on pitches, not swinging at the pitcher's pitch, but waiting on theirs."
Saturday's first game was a heartbreaker for the Pilots after the Wolfpack tied the score in the seventh inning.
Mark Bignell was charged with tying run after he hit and walked the first two batters of the inning. Kevin Jewell then came on in relief and allowed a single to left field to score a run.
The Pilots' Kyle Mace led off the ninth inning with a single. Then Chase Cox intentionally walked after Brandon Magierowski's groundout which moved Mace to second. However, LSUS stranded both runners and the score remained tied, 3-3.
David Alexander took the mound for the Pilots in the 10th and suffered the loss in the game.
Wolfpack second baseman David Suduka singled and Marc Jaynes moved him up to third base on his double to left field. In the midst of throwing the ball in, Riley Cook bobbled the ball, allowing Suduka to score the eventual winning run.
In the bottom half of the 10th, Dusty Maddox singled to left with one out. Chris Frye hit a fly ball to deep center field but Loyola center fielder Greg Veltri made a spectacular game-ending over-the-head catch to preserve a 4-3 Wolfpack victory.
Frye, Mace, Cox, Maddox, Steffan Primeaux and Patrick Thompson all had one hit in the game. Dustin Bissonnette led the Pilots with two singles in four at bats.
The second game produced more runs for the Pilots (39-17, 22-8) and they managed to pick up the 7-6 win to split the doubleheader.
Tyler Lewis (3-4) threw 4 2/3 innings before coming out after allowing four runs to score in the fifth inning.
The Pilots were leading 7-0 when Loyola (25-28, 16-14) began its rally.
Jeremy Chabot relieved the starter with a 7-4 lead. He gave up two runs in 1 1/3 innings and the Wolfpack only trailed by a run.
"We're starting to get some really great pitching," Musgraves said. "We're not scoring as much as we did earlier in the season, but we're making some strides at the plate.
"This was a weekend I thought we should have swept."
Alexander pitched the beginning of the seventh inning as he tried to pick up the save, but got himself into a bit of trouble. Louis Roberts came in to seal the deal instead and struck out Jaynes, who had five strikeouts on the day, to pick up the save and win.
All the Pilots offense came in two innings. They scored four in the first inning and three in the fourth.
In the first inning, Mace, Magierowski and Scott Talley all picked up RBIs. Loyola committed two errors that inning, which led to runs scoring. One error included an easy fly ball being dropped by the right fielder.
Brian Arnold led things off in the fourth inning with a double and Derek Cunningham landed on base after the left fielder dropped a pop fly. Cook knocked in one run with his single and Bissonnette put two runners through thanks to his double. Bissonnette finished the second game 3-4.
This series completed the Pilots conference season. They will begin play in the conference tournament on Wednesday.
"When you clinch the conference so early, I think we got flat after that," Musgraves said. "You don't look for the in-game challenges as much. That may have set us back a bit.
"Everyone says you don't want to go into the postseason on a long winning streak. We don't have one, but, hopefully, we can turn it around quickly."
