April 18, 2008

Box Score

By Josh Brown

McNeese SID Intern

Huntsville, TX-

The McNeese State Cowboys lost a heart-breaker here tonight, falling by a 2-1 score in 10 innings to the Sam Houston Bearkats at Don Sanders Field.

The two teams play again on Saturday at 2:00 PM for the second game of a three-game Southland Conference series.

The Cowboys fall to 10-27 on the year with a SLC record of 3-11. The Bearkats are now 23-14 overall, 10-6 in SLC games.

Cowboy reliever Justin LeBleu was tagged with the loss to fall to 1-2 on the year while Bearkats reliever Zac Baker pitched the final inning to record his first win of the year to improve to 1-0.

While the relievers tallied the decisions, the starting pitchers for both teams were the story of the game.

Tyler Davis pitched a beautiful game against the Bearkats, giving up one run on only four hits to a team that came into the game hitting .349 as a team. He left the game after pitching nine innings without a decision, striking out six while walking three.

Ryan Tepera nearly mirrored Davis as he also went nine innings while only giving up one run, doing so on eight hits and five strikeouts with one walk.

The Cowboys got on the board first in this game, pushing across a run with two outs in the top of the fourth inning after Taylor Freeman walked and advanced to second on a Nick Eubanks single.

Keith Patnode followed up Eubanks' single with one of his own, scoring Freeman from second and putting the Cowboys up 1-0.

The Bearkats answered back in the bottom of the fifth inning when Mark Wyatt doubled and was brought around to score on a single by Ryan Weber to knot the score at 1-1.

The score would stay the same despite a golden opportunity for the Cowboys in the sixth inning when Freeman tripled to right-center field with only one out. The Cowboys were unable to bring Freeman home however, as the next two batters grounded out to end the inning.

The score would stay the same as both pitchers were in control throughout the first nine innings, with both being pulled after nine innings due to pitch counts.

In the top of the 10th inning, Baker pitched a perfect inning while striking out one Cowboy.

In the bottom of the inning, LeBleu walked Todd Sebek to begin the inning. After the walk, LeBleu got the next batter, Keith Stein, to a 1-2 count before a failed pickoff attempt sailed to the left of first baseman Justin Beitzels' glove, allowing Sebek to reach third base on the play.

LeBleu proceeded to strikeout Stein for the first out of the inning. The Cowboys then walked Ryan Trevino to setup a potential double play to get the Cowboys out of the jam.

However, it was not to be, as Seth Hammock hit a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Sebek from third and ending the game with a 2-1 victory for the Bearkats.

The Cowboys were led offensively by Cholley and Patnode who each had two hits on the night. Sam Merrill, Freeman, Eubanks and Mace Hebert had one hit each.

Patnode recorded the only RBI of the night for McNeese.

The two teams meet again with a 2 PM start on Saturday afternoon at Don Sanders Field. Scott Holstein will be on the hill for the Cowboys as he goes against right-hander Dallas Gallant