May 19, 2007

Box Score

LAKE CHARLES, La. - Senior Erik Kanaby went 3-for-5 to pace the Cardinals at the plate, but Lamar University's bid for a sweep came up short as McNeese State held on for a 7-4 win Saturday afternoon in Southland Conference action at Cowboy Diamond.

Lamar finishes the regular season with a 33-23 overall record and a 20-10 mark in SLC play. McNeese State improved to 21-33 overall and 17-12 in SLC play. Since Texas State (20-10) lost 5-3 at Texas-San Antonio Saturday, the Bobcats remained tied with the Cardinals in the overall SLC standings. Since Lamar took two of three from Texas State in the season series, the Cardinals will get the No. 2 seed.

Stephen F. Austin defeated Sam Houston State 12-9 to secure the sixth and final spot in the 2007 SLC Tournament which begins Wednesday at Brown-Stroud Field in Natchitoches, La. UTSA is the No. 1-seed and will play SFA at 11 a.m. The second-seeded Cardinals will play No. 5-seed McNeese State at 3 p.m. and No. 3-seed Texas State will play No. 4-seed Sam Houston State at 7 p.m.

McNeese started the scoring with a run in the bottom of the third inning. Justin Beitzel reached on a throwing error to lead off the inning. Andy Riche' singled up the middle. Both runners moved up a base on David Leatherwood's groundout to second. Shon Landry bunted out to first base, which allowed Beitzel to score the game's first run.

Lamar tied the game at 1-1 with a run in the top of the fourth inning. David Moore singled when nobody was able to catch his popup on the infield. Dan Hernandez reached on a fielder's choice when third baseman Bryan Cartie's throw to force Moore at second base pulled David Leatherwood off the bag.

Jeff Vickers reached on a fielder's choice bunt with Moore getting forced out at third base. Travis Dunson singled to right field to load the bases. Brian Lloyd drove in Hernandez with a sacrifice fly to left field.

The Cowboys responded with two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Cartie, who was 2-for-3, led off the inning with a double to left field. Jeramie Broussard walked and Thomas Zabasky reached on a bunt single to load the bases.

Taylor Faul drove in Cartie with a fielder's choice. Justin Beitzel walked to reload the bases and David Leatherwood followed with an RBI base on balls to put McNeese up 3-1.

Hernandez led off the sixth inning with a solo home run to left center field. It was his third homer of the season and second in as many days at Cowboy Diamond.

McNeese again had an answer, scoring three times in the home half of the sixth. After singles by Zabasky and Faul, Beitzel doubled to straight away center field to score Zabasky. Pinch-hitter Bryn Thompson drove in Faul with a sacrifice fly to center field and Leatherwood drove in Beitzel with an RBI ground out to make the score 6-2.

The Cowboys added an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh inning. Hulett doubled to right field to lead off the inning and scored on Broussard's RBI fielder's choice ground out.

Lamar rallied for two runs in the top of the ninth inning. Vickers reached on a single when the right fielder Josh Cholley lost the ball in the sun. Kanaby tripled to right center field to drive in Vickers, which was his first three-bagger of the season. Ryan Baker followed with an RBI single to center field to make the score 7-4.

LU starter Justin Walker (0-4) took the loss, allowing three runs, two earned, on three hits with three walks and no strikeouts. The Cardinals followed up Walker with six relievers. Scott Meyer pitched 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief and Tim Erickson pitched 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief to highlight the bullpen's effort.

Sam English (4-4) started and picked up the win for the Cowboys. He pitched six innings, allowing two runs, one earned, on five hits with one walk and no strikeouts. Danny Davis pitched the final three innings to earn his fourth save, allowing two runs on four hits with two strikeouts.