Pilots pound Southern Poly
February 09, 2012
JACKSON, Miss. - The no. 6 LSU Shreveport Pilots got as many hits as they did runs on Thursday afternoon in route to a 12-2 win over the no. 21 Southern Poly Hornets in eight innings at Smith-Wills Stadium in the Belhaven Invitational.LSUS (4-0) had three big innings that led to the dominating performance with three runs in the second inning and four in the fifth. Back-to-back bunt singles from Kade Billeaudeaux and David Dorton began the rally in the second as Tyler Alton drove in one with a double and Ridge Gonsoulin, the Red River Athletic Conference's Player of the Week from last week, drove another with a single to right.
Southern Poly (4-4) managed a run in the third and one in the seventh as they only managed a total of four hits against the Pilot's staff. Two of their four hits came in the seventh when they scored one of their two runs, both singles, as the only extra-base hit the Hornets had was a double by Trey Malone, his only hit of the game, in the third inning.
Jared Mortensen (2-0) picked up the win after a solid seven inning performance surrendering four hits and one earned run. Mortensen walked only one while striking out eight for the second time this season. Caleb Olson threw a scoreless eighth to complete the game.
Casey Shiver (1-2) suffered the loss for the Hornets as he allowed seven earned runs on nine hits in six innings pitched. Shiver showed great command of all pitches only walking one and striking out six.
The Pilots did a little bit of everything in the game with some timely hitting and bunting to a great pitching performance. The Pilots had two long balls in the game with a two-run monster homer over the right field wall from Greg Friesen that came on a hit-and-run in the top of the fifth inning and another two-run shot from Kyle Pearson later in the game over the right center field wall in the eighth inning to earn the ten-run rule.
The Hornets appeared to be gaining momentum early in the game after their run in the third was started after a lead-off walk followed by a double. Mortensen stymied the rally striking out the next two and inducing a fly ball to end the threat. The two teams exchanged scoreless innings in the third but the Pilots regained the momentum with the four run fifth.
The next game for the Pilots will be tomorrow at 11 a.m. against the no. 7 Cumberland Bulldogs at Smith-Wills Stadium in Jackson as part of the Belhaven Invitational. LSUS will send right-hander Matt Lackie (1-0) to the mound on Friday morning to face the Bulldogs.
The Pilots will take on the host no. 15 Belhaven Blazers with a 2:30 p.m. first pitch on Saturday.
