Pilots take double header from LSUA
March 15, 2011
SHREVEPORT, La. - The no. 13 LSU Shreveport Pilots baseball team extended their winning streak to nine games with a double header sweep of the LSU-Alexandria Generals at Pilot Field on Tuesday afternoon by a final score of 11-1 in five innings in game one and 5-1 in game two.
GAME 1, W 11-1
The Pilots took control early as they had the game in hand at the end of the third inning and pounded a total of 12 hits as they crushed the Generals in the first game of the double header.
Andrew Brouillette and Justin Brodnax each drove in a run with a base hit in the first inning to give the home team the earlier lead. In the second inning the Pilots added three more as Kyle Pearson drove in a run with a single and then Chase Wentz brought him in with an RBI triple to center field. Shawn Moy plated Wentz with a sac fly to give the Pilots a 5-0 advantage.
Pearson launched a line shot over the left field wall for a three-run homer in the third inning to extend the lead to 8-0. LSUA scored their lone run in the top of the fourth inning as Cullen Vujnovich brought home Chase Barrett with a single to make it an 8-1 ballgame.
Brouillette's sac fly in the fourth got the run back for the Pilots who needed just two more in the fifth for the ten-run rule. Manny Estrada's RBI-triple brought in Brodnax who doubled to lead off the inning and then with two outs Michael Diffie's single to left drove in the eleventh run of the game for the Pilots to end the game.
Cole Newell (2-2) picked up the win for the Pilots after four innings of four hit ball and allowed just one run. He struck out two batters before giving way to Scott Petroski for the final inning who faced the minimum of three batters. Colton Knuckols (1-4) took the loss as he allowed eight runs on eight hits in three innings of work.
LSUA had no batter with multi-hits at the end of the game while the Pilots had four hitters with two hits each. Wentz was two for three with an RBI and two runs scored while Brodnax was two for three with an RBI. Estrada drove in one and was two for three. Pearson was also two for three but had four RBIs. Brouillette drove in two and was one for two.
GAME 2, W 5-1
LSUA started the scoring in the first inning as James Morgan scored on a fielder's choice for the game's first run but the Pilots added two in the bottom half to take the lead as one runs scored on a fielder's choice and the other was forced in when Estrada walked with the bases loaded.
Cody Causey hit his third home run of the season in the second inning to extend the Pilot lead to 3-1. The General's starter Jake Bell would retire the next eight Pilot hitters before surrendering a walk to Causey in his next at bat in the fifth as he would come around to score the fourth run of the game for the Pilots.
Wentz drove in a run with a double in the sixth to give the Pilots a five-run cushion heading into the seventh and that would be more than enough for their 21st win of the season.
Jacob Kight (2-0) picked up the win for the Pilots after allowing just one run on three hits in three innings pitched. The LSUS bullpen would only allow two more hits for the remainder of the game and strike out five more batters. Drew Middleton struck out one while Taylor Pepper and Cade Bowen both struck out two batters. Each pitcher out of the Pilot pen through an inning a piece.
Jake Bell (0-1) suffered the loss but kept the Pilots off balance in the middle of the game but they had already done enough damage as he allowed four runs on four hits in five innings pitched. He walked five batters while only striking out four. James Ott allowed one run in the final inning of relief.
There were only two batters in the game that had multi hits as Logan Crow was two for two for LSUA and Wentz was two for four for the Pilots.
The next game for the Pilots will be the biggest RRAC series to this point in the season as they square off against the only other unbeaten team in the conference with the Knights from Northwood in Cedar Hill, Texas. The double header of the series will begin at 1:00 p.m. on Friday. The first game is set for seven innings while game two of the day will be a nine inning game. The final game of the series will be at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. Both teams are 12-0 in RRAC play.
