Pilots pound Texas College
March 11, 2011
TYLER, Tex. - The no. 13 LSU Shreveport Pilots baseball team pounded out 17 hits in a 13-5 win over the Texas College Steers in Red River Athletic Conference play on Friday afternoon.
The Pilots hit four home runs on the day as eight of their 17 hits were for extra bases.
LSUS (17-7, 10-0 RRAC) got on the board first with an RBI groundout from Andrew Brouillette that plated Manny Estrada who led off the game with a double to left-center. Texas College (10-12, 4-9 RRAC) took a one-run lead in the bottom of the inning thanks to a two-run homer from Jonathan Petros, his third long ball of the season, to give the Steer a 2-1 advantage.
The lead would be short lived by the home team as the Pilots got a boost from Cody Causey in the second inning as he blasted fourth round-tripper of the year, a two-run shot to center to give the Pilots back the lead for good 4-2 after two.
The next run of the game came in the fifth inning as Kevin Smith brought in Chase Wentz with a single to right to give the visitors a 5-2 advantage. TC answered with one run in the bottom half as Agustin Enriquez led off the inning with a triple and then scored on Trey Evan's double to trim the Pilot lead to two 5-3 after five complete innings of play.
The Pilots got one run in the sixth thanks to an opposite-field solo homer from Shawn Moy, his third of the year, to extend the lead to 6-3 until the Pilots added two more in the seventh inning as Chase Wentz blasted his third homer of the year, a two-run shot to left to increase the lead to 8-3 after seven complete.
TC plated two runs in the eighth to get within striking distance 8-5 but the gap was quickly increased by the Pilots in the top of the ninth to put a damper on the TC comeback with five runs in the top of the ninth. Carson Martinez singled home Curtis Beaudoin and Kyle Pearson hit his third long ball of the season, a two-run blast to left to increase the LSUS lead to 13-5 going into the last of the ninth.
The Steers got a few base runners aboard thanks to an error and a hit by pitch but the Pilots got out of the inning without any damage being done.
Cody Boutte (3-0) picked up the win for the Pilots as he did not walk a batter until the final two that he faced in the sixth inning as he tossed six and 2/3 scattering seven hits and allowing three earned runs. He fanned a total of nine TC batters. Jared Mortensen gave up two earned runs in two and 1/3 innings of relief and struck out one batter while Taylor Riggs threw the ninth and struck out one.
TC starter Chris Blackmon (2-4) suffered the loss as the Pilots got him for seven earned runs and eight hits in six innings. He walked three and struck out eight. The Pilots got the other six runs of the game off of three of the final four TC pitchers.
Estrada extend his hitting streak to an impressive 13 games after a three for five performance at the dish with two doubles while Wentz drove in two and was two for four with a stolen base. Brouillette drove in a run with a two for five day at the plate while Smith was four for five with an RBI. He has now hit safely in his last five games.
Causey drove in three runs and was one for five while Moy was two for four with two RBIs. Pearson was two for five with two RBIs.
The Pilots and Steers will play a double-header tomorrow beginning at noon at Texas College.
