March 8, 2006

Final Stats

James Thibodeaux belted three home runs as McNeese State and Dallas Baptist split a twinbill here Wednesday.

The Cowboy outfielder cracked his first home run of the season in the first game 4-3 victory and hit two in the second game that was won by Dallas Baptist by an 11-8 score.

In the first game Thibodeaux's two run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning provided the winning runs for the Cowboys.

Thomas Zabasky had walked on four straight pitches and Thibodeaux hit a 1-0 pitch over the left field fence.

The Cowboys had scored solo runs in the third and fifth innings. A fielder's choice by Taylor Faul plated Beau Knowles with the game's first run in the third inning and a double by Joe Hulett plated Bryan Cartie in the fifth inning.

Dallas Baptist scored all three of its runs in the sixth inning off Cameron Chandler who had come on in relief of Chris Denton who had hurled five innings of no-hit, no-run ball, striking out seven. Chandler got the win as he was the pitcher of record when the Cowboys went ahead while Danny Davis finished out the game for the Cowboys and collected the save, hurling blanks for three innings.

The outcome of the nightcap went back and forth. Dallas Baptist took a 3-0 lead in the first inning on a solo homer by Cody Montgomery and a two run shot by Matt Tucker. And, the Patriots added two runs in the fourth on four runs and a Cowboy error.

McNeese came back with two runs in the bottom of the fourth on a two run homer by Thibodeaux and tied the score with three runs in the sixth, two of them on another home run by Thibodeaux.

The Cowboys added three runs in the seventh on a squeeze bunt by Joe Hulett, a hit and an error and Dallas Baptist ran six runs across the plate in the eighth to finish out the victory, two of the runs coming on a home run by Brandon Bantz.

The Cowboys used five pitchers in that game with reliefer Ryan Leger taking the loss while Ricky Sparks, the second of three Dallas Baptist pitchers, got the win.

Thibodeaux led the Cowboys in the twinbill with three hits - all of them h ome runs - and six RBIs. Charlie Kingrey also had three hits and a pair of RBIs.

The split sends the Cowboys record to 8-6 and leaves Dallas Baptist with a 10-7 mark. McNeese will be back in action on the weekend, opening Southland Conference play on the road against Sam Houston State on Friday.