Pilots improve to 27-10 with 9-8 win over Wildcats
April 05, 2005
Pineville, LA---The LSUS Pilots (27-10) squared off against the Louisiana College Wildcats (20-7) Tuesday afternoon in the fourth annual D.A.R.E. Day Baseball Game. In front of 2,500 screaming 4th and 5th graders, the Pilots collected 16 hits on route to a 9-8 victory over the Wildcats.
Wildcats second baseman Matt Byrnes led off the bottom of the first with a seeing eye single through the right side of the infield off Pilot starter Kevin Jewell. Gene Taylor followed with a two-run homerun over the left-center field wall to put the Wildcats up 2-0.
The Pilots responded quickly as Kyle Mace led off the top of the second inning with a solo-homerun over the scoreboard in left-center field cutting the lead to 2-1. Brandon Magierowski followed with a double down the left field line and scored on a Patrick Thompson single to tie the game at 2-2.
The Wildcats added a single run in the bottom of the second which was answered by a Mace double off the center field fence scoring Dustin Bissonnette in the top of the third. The Wildcats responded with two runs in the bottom of the third inning when Jeremy Crump delivered a two-run homerun to left field off Pilot reliever David Alexander putting the Wildcats back on top 5-3.
Colin Moro led off the top of the fourth inning with a double down the left field line and scored on a Brent Lavallee single to center field. After missing a week of action with shoulder soreness, Pilots leading hitter Dusty Maddox followed with a line drive double to right-center field, scoring Lavallee and tying the score at 5-5.
Alexander walked Tayor and Crump to lead off the bottom of the 5th inning, but managed to escape the inning only allowing one run when Ryan Reeves hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Taylor and advance Crump to third base. The Wildcats ran themselves out of the inning when Crump was thrown out at the plate trying to score on an Alexander wild pitch.
After holding the Pilots scoreless in the 6th inning, Chris Bertrand hit a soaring fly ball that was blown over the left field wall off Pilot reliever Jeremy Chabot, giving the Wildcats a 7-5 lead.
Mace led off the top of the 7th with a ground ball to the right side of the infield that was misplayed by Wildcat reliever Drew Hampton, allowing Mace to reach first. Magierowski followed with his second hit of the game, a line drive single through the left side of the infield, advancing Mace to second. Thompson followed with a bunt attempt that was fielded by Hampton who tried to get the force out at third, but made an errant throw which escaped down the left field line allowing Mace and Magierowski to score, and allowing Thompson to advance to third with no out. Bryan Cooksey followed with a single to left field to give the Pilots their first lead at 8-7.
After a scoreless 8th inning, the Pilots added an insurance run in the 9th when Bissonnette drew a bases loaded walk from Whit Whitlock to give the Pilots a 9-7 lead heading to the bottom of the 9th.
Luis Roberts came on in relief for Chabot in the 8th, and fell victim to back-to-back infield singles by Salatar and Byrnes to begin the 9th. Taylor advanced both runners with a sacrifice bunt, putting the tying run on second base with one out. Roberts managed to strike out Crump who watched a 1-2 fastball for strike, and became the second out of the inning. Roberts then walked Smith to load the bases and followed with a walk to Reeves, allowing Salatar to score and the winning run to advance to second base with the hitless Jason White coming to the plate. Roberts quickly jumped ahead in the count with two fastballs called for strikes, and managed to get a glove on a slow come backer to the mound on the ensuing pitch and threw White out at first to collect his first save of the season, and preserve a 9-8 victory for the Pilots.
Botrand led the Wildcats with a 3-4 performance which included 2 runs scored and an RBI. Hampton suffered his second loss of the season allowing 3 runs on two hits in 0.0 innings.
Jeremy Chabot collected the win completing 2.1 innings while allowing one earned run and collecting 3 strikeouts. The Pilots managed to collect 16 hits which included a hit by all nine players in the starting line-up. Maddox finished 2-5 with two doubles and an RBI; Mace was 2-5 with his second homerun of the year and 3 RBI; Bissonnette was 2-5 with an RBI and a run scored; Magierowski was 2-5 with 2 runs scored; Moro was 2-3 with 2 runs scored; and Lavallee was 2-5 with an RBI and one run scored.
“Today was a big road win for us,” commented Pilots senior first baseman Kyle Mace. “We still haven’t played our best baseball as we have yet to put a complete game together. For us to be successful and reach our potential, we need to combine our solid pitching performances we have got of late with some timely hitting, while not forgetting our small ball approach at the plate.”
With Tuesday’s win, the Pilots improve to 27-10 on the season and will wait for Friday night when they will play host to the Spring Hill College Badgers in a three game Gulf Coast Athletic Conference series showdown at Pilot Field. The Pilots are currently in first place in the GCAC at 14-4, two games ahead of the 12-6 University of Mobile Rams.
2004-05 GCAC Baseball Standings
|
School |
GCAC |
Overall |
Streak | ||
|
LSUS |
14-4 |
.778 |
27-10 |
.730 |
Won 1 |
|
Mobile |
12-6 |
.667 |
26-13 |
.667 |
Lost 1 |
|
William Carey |
9-9 |
.500 |
18-16 |
.529 |
Won 1 |
|
Loyola |
9-9 |
.500 |
16-20 |
.444 |
Lost 1 |
|
Belhaven |
8-10 |
.444 |
21-17 |
.553 |
Won 1 |
|
Spring Hill |
2-16 |
.111 |
11-26 |
.297 |
Won 1 |
|
Tougaloo |
0-0 |
.000 |
0-9 |
.000 |
Lost 9 |
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To receive LSUS Sports Releases by e-mail, contact Allan Cantwell at: sports@pilot.lsus.edu
LSUS Athletics Contact:
Allan Cantwell
Sports Information
318-797-5194 (office)
