Pilots Split With Knights
April 23, 2008
Shreveport, La. – The LSUS Pilots saw their 12-game winning streak snapped in game one of Tuesday’s doubleheader versus Northwood University, 6-3, but managed a split on the day, winning game two, 13-12.
In the first game, Northwood opened up the scoring with two runs in the third, and then took a 3-0 lead in the fourth on an RBI double by Randy Richter.
LSUS put runners on second and third with no outs in the bottom of the fourth, and managed to score two runs on an RBI groundout by Bryan Stebbings and a two-out RBI single by Jeffrey Garidel.
Garidel’s single was the first Pilot hit of the game and cut the Northwood lead to 3-2 after four innings of play.
The Pilots tied the game at 4-4 in the fifth on a RBI double by Andrew Brouillette, scoring Quinton Shamsabady from second.
Following a scoreless sixth, the Knights scored three runs in the seventh. Justin Parks doubled in the first run of the inning, while Cody Via hit a two-run single to put the visitors ahead for good, as relief pitcher Kyle Gainley shut down the Pilots in the bottom half of the inning for the 6-3 win.
In game two, the Knights offense exploded for five first-inning runs off of Pilot starter Justin Ennis.
LSUS answered with two runs in the first and another run in the second.
After Ennis settled down and retired seven straight batters, the Pilots offense came to life in the third, scoring five runs on four hits. Shamsabady picked up three RBIs on a bases-clearing triple with two outs.
LSUS led 8-5 with one out in the top of the fourth when the game was delayed over one hour due to inclement weather at Pilot Field.
After play resumed, Northwood put four more runs on the board in the fourth, but the Pilots scored one of their own in the fourth to tie the game at 9-9.
LSUS took control of the contest in the bottom of the fifth on a three-run homer by Matt Whitney. The Pilots added one more run in the inning to take a 13-9 lead after five.
The Knights made things interesting late, scoring three runs in the sixth; however, Gino Spratley entered in relief and got out of a bases-loaded jam, stopping the Northwood rally.
Spratley pitched a scoreless seventh, as the Pilots held on for a 13-12 victory.
Shamsabady, Brouillette and Jeff Ledet each had two hits in the win, while Shamsabady added four RBIs to lead the Pilots.
