The McNeese Cowboys baseball team defeated the Invarnate Word Cardinals 6-2 in the Southland Tournament on Thursday evening. The win moves the Cowboys into the driver’s seat of their side of the bracket.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Cowboys started with Alexis Gravel on the mound, looking to get their second win in as many days. He was effective early, keeping the Cardinals off of the scoreboard.
The Cardinals countered with Isaiah Zavala, who also had some success early on. Neither team reached the scoreboard in the first two innings.
In the third, McNeese put some offense together. A walk and single out two runners on. Then, a sacrifice fly brought home one run, and Elliot Hebert’s RBI double brought home another. The Cowboys led 2-0 after three.
The Cardinals would answer in the very next frame. Daniel Calabrese came through with an RBI double, and that was followed by an RBI groundout. That answered the two runs and evened the score after four.
Both pitchers stayed effective, and we would not see any more offense until the sixth inning. In that frame, Peyton LeJeune came through with a big two-run homer to give the Cowboys a 4-2 lead. He was not done, however. He came up again two innings later and launched another two-run shot, this one extending the McNeese lead to 6-2.
After Gravel gave McNeese six quality innings, the Cowboys asked Cameron LeJeune to record a nine-out save. He worked clean seventh and eighth innings with zeroes on the scoreboard. The ninth got dicey, however, as Incarnate Word loaded the bases with just one out, allowing the tying run to get to the plate. A strikeout and a groundout got LeJeune out of it, and the Cowboys held on 6-2.
BIG NUMBER: 9
Cameron LeJeune got nine outs to record the rare nine-out save. It got scary in the ninth, but he was able to close the door on another McNeese victory.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Peyton LeJeune
The former Louisiana Ragin’ Cajun provided two home runs and four RBIs to pace McNeese offensively. They needed his bat to get to the driver’s seat of the SLC Tournament.
UP NEXT: McNeese will wait to face the winner of Lamar and Incarnate Word and will play them at 4:00 PM tomorrow. McNeese will have to be beaten twice, but only needs one win to advance to the championship game.