Four Lion pitchers combine on no-hitter vs. Mississippi Valley State

HAMMOND, La. – Four Lion pitchers combined on a no-hitter Wednesday as the Southeastern Louisiana University baseball program defeated Mississippi Valley State, 12-0, in seven innings at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field.

Hayden Robb (1-0), Justin Williams, Larson Fabre and Dalton Aspholm logged the sixth overall no-hitter in SLU history and the second combined. It is the first no-hitter since Jordan Hymel’s no-hitter against Texas Southern on March 3, 2013.

Southeastern (6-3) extended its winning streak to four games with the non-conference win over the Delta Devils (1-3).

The Lions pounded out nine hits, led by center fielder Jude Hall (3-for-3) and shortstop TJ Salvaggio (2-for-4). Hall homered twice, giving him a team-high four home runs this season. Right fielder Parker Coley also hit his second home run of the season, a two-run shot to left-center in the sixth.

SLU broke through in the third, sending nine batters to the plate on the way to scoring three runs.

Hall led off the inning with a bunt single. He scored from first on Conner O’Neal’s double over the center fielder’s head. Salvaggio reached on an infield error and Christian Garcia sacrificed both runners into scoring position. O’Neal scored on a balk. After back-to-back walks by Ryan Brome and Jake Haze, Salvaggio scored from third on Shea Thomas’ sac fly to center.

The Lions added three more runs in the fourth. Hall led off the inning with a solo homer down the right-field line. O’Neal drew a walk, advancing to third on Salvaggio’s double off the left-field wall. They both scored on a Brome’s one-out single to center.

Southeastern put the game out of reach with six runs in the sixth, batting around.

Robb earned the win, tossing four innings. He also tied a career-best with seven strikeouts. Williams, Fabre and Aspholm pitched one inning each. Lion pitching struck out 11 batters and did not issue a walk. The only two batters to reach came against Robb who committed a fielding error in the first inning and hit a batter before picking him off.

Delta Devil starting pitcher Brayden Eftink (0-1) suffered the loss, allowing three runs – two earned – in three innings of work.

UP NEXT
Southeastern travels to Greenville, North Carolina to participate in the Keith LeClair Classic at Lewis Field at Clark-LeClair Stadium. The Lions will face Cal State Fullerton at 11 a.m. CT Friday, Purdue at 10 a.m. CT Saturday and No. 11-ranked East Carolina at noon Sunday.

DIAMOND CLUB / S CLUB
Fans interested in becoming active supporters of the baseball program are encouraged to join the Diamond Club. Lion baseball alums are encouraged to join the exclusive S Club, which is restricted to Southeastern athletic letter winners.

All membership fees and donations to both the Diamond Club and S Club (baseball) are available for the exclusive use of the Southeastern baseball program. Membership information is available by contacting the Lion Athletics Association at laa@southeastern.edu or (985) 549-5091 or by visiting www.LionUp.com.

SOCIAL MEDIA
Fans are encouraged to follow the Southeastern Baseball social media accounts (@LionUpBaseball) on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to stay engaged with the program.

The latest updates are also available at www.LionSports.net and the Lions Gameday Experience app. Available for both Android and iOS devices, the Gameday app can be downloaded from the App Store and Google Play.

LINE SCORE
Southeastern 12, Mississippi Valley 0 (Feb 28, 2024 at Hammond, LA)
———————————————————————-
Mississippi Valley … 000 000 0 – 0 0 3 (1-3)
Southeastern ……….. 003 306 X – 12 9 1 (6-3)
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Pitchers: Mississippi Valley – Eftink, Brayden; Bennett, Quin (4); Bax, Blake (5); Snipes, James (6); McGee, Craig (6) and Washington, Ty. Southeastern – Robb, Hayden; Williams, Justin (5); Fabre, Larson (6); Aspholm, Dalton (7) and O’Neal, Conner.

Win-Robb, Hayden (1-0) Loss- Eftink, Brayden (0-1) T-1:50 A-1387
HR SLU – Coley, Parker (2); Hall, Jude 2 (4).
Weather: 64 Cloudy, NNE 15 mph