April 12, 2008

Final Stats

Hammond, La. - A walk-off single gave Southeastern Louisiana the final push over the Texas State Bobcats in a 4-3 delayed decision Friday night at Alumni Field. Texas State drops to 17-13 after tonight's loss and 9-4 in Southland Conference play.

SLU put the early lead on the board after rapping out three straight hits to plate two in the bottom of the first inning.

The 'Cats were scoreless over two frames until Adam Witek drove a one-out single to right field to open the third. He stole second on the next play and Paul Goldschmidt drove an RBI-double to right centerfield for Texas State's first run.

SLU countered with one run in the bottom of the fourth to take a 3-1 lead, but the `Cats played cat-and-mouse with a single shot at the top of the fifth. Thomas Field took three bases on a hit down the left line and a fielding error from Southeastern's third baseman put Witek on base and allowed Field to score. Laurn Randell followed but his at-bat was delayed for one hour and five minutes due to severe lightening in the area. The `Cats picked up with a runner on first, but three groundouts retired the inning, 3-2.

Texas State's defense held SLU scoreless over the next four innings and the Bobcats pushed to tie the game with a lead-off homer in the eighth inning from Lance Loftin.

Opening the final frame with one out, Goldschmidt was hit by a pitch for the potential winning run. Jerry Cervantes struck out on the next at-bat, but Loftin became the second hit batter of the inning, and took his place on the diamond. Down 0-2 in the count, Spenser Dennis grounded out to first base to leave the pair stranded.

The Bobcats snagged back-to-back outs in the bottom of the ninth when Xavier Qualls hit a 3-2 infield single to spoil an extra-inning tilt. A second Lion single put two on and Josh Walter was called to the mound. Cryer sent his first pitch down the left chalk to plate Qualls for the game-winning run.

Zach Boles was handed his the loss for Texas State, despite retiring five batters with strikeouts in his 2.2 innings on the mound.

Wade Miley entered the game for two innings and picked up the win for Southeastern. The hurler was scheduled to open Sunday afternoon's game, but the Lions utilized the left-hander for the victory.

Loftin and Goldschmidt both grabbed a set of hits with one RBI in the outing. Elliott Babcock also went 2-for-4 for Texas State.

Qualls finished the night 2-for-5 for the Lions.

Game two is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. tomorrow afternoon.