May 23, 2008

Final Stats

Huntsville, TX - Bret Atwood made the catch of the day, robbing Southeastern Louisiana of a game-tying home run, but the next play gave way to the feat and the Lions fought back for a 9-8 victory over the Texas State Bobcats Friday morning at Sanders Stadium.

With the loss, Texas State is eliminated from the tournament and Southeastern will move on to face Lamar at 4 p.m. this afternoon.

Josh Walter took the loss for Texas State after entering in the bottom of the ninth with an 8-5 advantage. An error at the hands of Adam Witek gave SLU its first base runner and a base hit followed to bring up the tying run. Ty Summerlin hit a deep ball to left field but Atwood nearly climbed the wall to save his squad from the loss, but Brandon Street came through on Walter's next pitch. The three-run homer was Street's second of the game and fourth all season.

Tied 8-8, SLU hit a hard single on the left line and Aaron Taylor was brought in to ward off the foe. But a wild pitch and a base hit up the middle gave the Lions room to take the lead. Texas State opted to intentionally walk Xavier Qualls for the force out that paid off with a play at the plate. However, with the bases load and two outs, Aaron Taylor hit the next batter to send in the game-winning run.

Texas State grew its margin to eight behind Steven Siers on the mound. The senior threw for eight innings and allowed just five runs off ten hits. Southeastern scored in only the third and eighth frame with Siers tossing to the plate, retiring the side in the second, fourth, sixth and seventh innings.

Of the `Cats nine hits, a pair went to Atwood and Thomas Field apiece to lead the team. Ben Theriot went 1-for-3 with single and a sacrifice fly to drive in three runs, raising his tournament tally to 11 and setting an all-time conference mark.

Ryan Collins picked up the win for SLU and Street led the offense with a 4-for-4 showing, scoring three runs and batting in five.