Lee Pitches Louisiana Past McNeese, 4-1
Nick Lee pitched seven strong innings and Dylan Moore recorded his second save in as many night as Louisiana defeated McNeese State 4-1 to sweep the season series against the Cowboys.
Lee (6-4) allowed six singles in his seven innings of work. He walked four and struck out six in his 108 pitch effort. It was Lee's longest outing since a seven inning effort against Sam Houston State on the second weekend of the season.
"He made some big pitches and stood tall when he needed to stand tall," head coach Tony Robichaux said. "We were able to bypass middle relief and go right to D-Mo (Moore) and he was really locked in at the end for us."
Louisiana (30-19-1) got all the runs they would need in the first inning when Zach Lafleur led off with a single. Brenn Conrad walked and Steven Sensley then rocketed a drive into the right-center field gap for a triple, clearing the bases. Joe Robbins' groundout brought home Sensley with the game's third run off Cowboys starter Zach Rider.
"It's all about getting timely hits, even if it's in the first inning. We got a timely hit for a couple of runs and then were able to get the three run inning. That was huge for us," Robichaux said.
The Cajuns added another run in the fourth when Brad Antchak's line drive caromed off reliever Tyler Wesley into right field for a double. Antchak went to third on the second of three hits by Alex Pinero and scored on a double play ball.
Lee walked a pair of hitters with one out in the second and issued two more walks in the third, but pitched out of trouble each time. McNeese didn't get its first hit until the fifth when Mitchell Rogers led off with a single. After Will Fox struck out, Robbie Podorsky then bunted for a base hit and Dustin Duhon had an infield single to load the bases. Ricky Ramirez hit a sacrifice fly to center scoring Rogers and Shane Selman grounded out to end further damage.
In the sixth, back to back singles by Joe Provenzano and Matt Gallier set up another threat, but Lee induced Jake Cochran to hit into a double play and got Rogers on a fly ball. Then in the seventh, a single and a hit batsman gave McNeese two on with nobody out. Lee induced another double play ball and then struck our Ramirez to strand another runner at third.
Moore retired all six men he faced and struck out three for his tenth save of the season.
Louisiana will close out its home season this weekend with a three game series against Texas State. Game times are scheduled for 6:00 pm Friday and Saturday and 1:00 pm Sunday. All three games can be heard on 96.5 KPEL-FM.