Pilots Rally to Complete Series Sweep Over Spring Hill
March 08, 2009
SHREVEPORT, La. – Bubba Jordan’s pinch-hit, two-run RBI triple tied the game at 13 in the bottom of the eighth and Andrew Blubaugh doubled on the very next pitch for the game-winning hit and RBI as the No. 10 LSUS Pilots rallied to defeat the Spring Hill Badgers 18-17.
Quinton Shamsabady and Andrew Brouillette each had two-out RBI singles and Brent Lavallee launched his second homerun of the game, as the Pilots scored seven runs in the bottom of the eighth to rally back from a 13-11 deficit and pick up the series sweep over the Badgers.
Brad Holstein and Keifer Gingles each homered in the ninth as the Badgers attempted to make a comeback of their own, but they came up one run short as freshman Mason Free came in and recorded the final out of the game to earn the save and leave the tying run stranded at third.
Spring Hill took an early lead with single run on the scoreboard in the top of the first, but LSUS exploded for five runs in the bottom half of the inning with four runs coming off of two two-run homers by Lavallee and David Bradley.
The Badgers responded with five runs of their own in the top of the second on just one hit in the inning. However, their lone hit in the inning was a big one as Ryan Hall drove a bases loaded, 1-0 pitch from LSUS starter JV Lafitte over the left field fence for a grand slam.
LSUS tied the game at 7 with two more runs in the bottom of the second, but the Badgers jumped back out in front in the fourth with three runs on three hits to take a 9-7 lead.
The Pilots went back ahead 10-9 in the bottom of the fourth with back-to-back two-out RBI base hits by Chase Wentz and Jeffrey Garidel. Wentz singled in Brandon Bravata for the first run of the inning, while Garidel knocked in Matt Lawrence and Wentz.
Spring Hill would not go away though, as they scored three runs in the top of the fifth to regain the lead from the Pilots. The Badgers collected four hits in the inning and scored all of their runs on three consecutive RBI hits by Justin Harrison, Holstein and Javier Cherta.
Quinton Shamsabady hit a solo shot in the bottom of the sixth to get the Pilots back to within two runs of the visitors before the Pilots made their final push in the eighth to get the win.
LSUS reliever Scott Petroski picked up his second win after tossing 3.1 innings out of the bullpen. Petroski was nearly flawless by retiring the first ten batters that he faced before running into trouble in the ninth.
Lavallee finished the game 3-for-4 with 2 HR’s and a game-high 5 RBIs, while Shamsabady had a game-high four hits to lead the Pilots.
Garidel also recorded three hits for the home team in the contest and Blubaugh had multiple hits with two.
Harrison and Holstein paced the visitors with three hits, while finishing with three and four RBIs respectively.
LSUS (23-3, 17-1) is off to their best conference start in the history of the program, as they currently sit in first place in the GCAC standings with a three-game lead over William Carey.
