No. 2 Southeastern slugs past No. 7 A&M Corpus Christi to semifinals

Lions’ sluggers combine for 14 RBI in slugfest

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HAMMOND, La. – Friday afternoon’s elimination game of the 2022 Southland Baseball Tournament Hammond Bracket featured plenty of fireworks with No. 2 Southeastern outslugging No. 7 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 18-11. The Lions got on the scoreboard in every inning except the sixth.

Preston Faulkner and Shea Thomas combined for four home runs and 14 RBI to power the hosts’ offense. Faulkner went 3-for-4 with all three hits going for extra bases and finished with seven RBI and three runs. Thomas hit 4-of-5 with two home runs, two runs and seven RBI, the first of which got the Lions on the board in the home half of the first.

Dalton Aspholm picked up his first win of the season after racking up four strikeouts in 2.2 innings of relief. Gage Trahan kept the Islanders off the board for the final 2.2 innings to earn his 11^th save of the season.

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (27-28) responded with three in the top of the second to take the lead 3-1, thanks to an RBI single from Max Puls and a two-run double from Steven Rivera-Chijin.

Southeastern (26-28) regained the lead behind a two-run single from Rosevear, an RBI single from Preston Faulkner and a two-run blast over the left field wall from Thomas.

Both sides showed up offensively through the next three innings with the Islanders scoring six runs and the Lions plating eight. A&M-Corpus Christi brought home another run in the top of the sixth inning to cut the Southeastern lead 14-10.

Then, Southland home run leader Faulkner tacked on his 15^th of the year in the bottom of the seventh with a two-run shot over the left field wall to put SLU ahead 16-11. Thomas recorded the final run of the day with a two-run single through the left side to produce the game’s final score.

The Lions will face No. 3 New Orleans at 8 p.m. CT in the Hammond Bracket semifinal. A Southeastern win would force a winner-take all game at 1 p.m. Sunday.