Semien finishes what he starts, gives Southwest first RRAC loss

NEW ORLEANS — It was the seventh inning when Xavier University of Louisiana head baseball coach Adrian Holloway asked his freshman pitcher, starter Joseph Semien, how he felt.

The answer: good. “I told coach,” said the left-hander from Lake Charles, La., and Barbe High School, “that I was finishing the game.”

Semien kept his promise. He threw a career-high 120 pitches but delivered a 4-3 complete-game Red River Athletic Conference victory against Southwest (N.M.) that snapped XULA’s six-game RRAC losing streak and gave the Mustangs their first league loss this season.

“I like that confidence,” Holloway said of Semien. “The kid is a winner. He’s solid and comes from a great high-school program.”

Semien also helped XULA earn a split of the Sunday doubleheader at Wesley Barrow Stadium. Southwest won 5-1 in the seven-inning opener and won the series two games to one. The Mustangs won 8-5 Saturday.

Southwest is 18-4 overall and 11-1 in the RRAC. XULA is 9-12 and 4-8. Close behind the Mustangs in the conference are LSU-Shreveport at 9-1 and Louisiana Christian, Texas A&M-Texarkana and LSU-Alexandria at 9-3 apiece. XULA is tied for eighth place with Houston-Victoria.

XULA trailed 2-0 through four innings of the second game, then gave Semien a boost with a four-run fifth that included a Matt Muhleisen sacrifice fly, a Deionte Norris two-run single and a Dillon Cousin RBI single.

Semien faced 38 batters, allowed seven hits, walked two and struck out five. Seventy-three of his pitches were strikes.

“Once we scored those four runs, I knew I was going to finish,” Semien said. “I like it when my team picks me up.”

XULA didn’t score in the opener until Muhleisen homered with one out in the final inning.

Next for XULA is a 4 p.m. Tuesday doubleheader at Barrow against NCAA Division II LeMoyne-Owen. The next RRAC series will be Friday and Saturday against Wiley in Marshall, Texas.