SLU rallies late to defeat No. 20 Houston, 5-4

HAMMOND, La. – Southeastern Louisiana scored four runs in the eighth inning Friday, highlighted by Kyle Schimpf’s two-run double into the right-center field gap, as the Lions rallied to defeat No. 20-ranked Houston, 5-4, in the home finale at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field.

Trey Shaffer (3-1), a freshman left-hander from Biloxi, Mississippi, worked a scoreless eighth for the Lions (36-20) to earn the win. Jared Biddy surrendered a two-run home run in the ninth, but struck out the next three batters to pick up his fourth save of the season.

Fred Villarreal (0-2), the third of five Houston (33-21) pitchers, suffered the loss. The right-hander allowed three runs – two earned – in four innings, scattering two hits and one walk.

Both teams scored a run in third and Houston regained the lead on a solo homer in the sixth by first baseman Lael Lockhart, Jr.

Trenon Trosclair, who drove in the first run with a double down the left-field line, started the rally with a bunt single. The senior from Eunice, Louisiana, led the Lions at the plate with a 2-for-3 effort, scoring a run and driving in one.

Houston third baseman Jared Triolo sailed his throw to first down the line, allowing Trosclair to advance to second on the bunt. Cody Grosse drew a walk, bringing up right fielder Nathan Pilutti.

Earlier in the game, with the score tied 1-1, Pilutti failed to get a sacrifice bunt down in the same situation, grounding into a double play instead. Given a second opportunity, the junior from Destrehan, Louisiana proved clutch. Pilutti dropped down a successful sacrifice, reaching on a throwing error by Villarreal to load the bases.

The Cougars brought in their top starting pitcher, Aaron Fletcher, to face the left-handed hitting Drew Avans. With Houston up, 2-1, Fletcher issued a walk to Avans to force in the tying run and then served up Schimpf’s double.

Schimpf atoned for failing to fire off a timely throw in the third inning when the Cougars scored the first run of the game from second base on a two-out infield single.

After the double, Fletcher picked up a strikeout before uncorking a wild pitch to allow Avans to score Southeastern’s final run of the game.

RECORD ATTENDANCE
The Lions enjoyed record attendance for the fourth consecutive season, averaging 1,317 fans per game and shattering the total attendance mark with 43,463 coming out to watch Southeastern baseball at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field in 2018. Both marks pace the Southland Conference, which the Lions have led in average attendance each of the last four years and total attendance in three of the last four.

Set last season, the old marks were 32,674 total attendance and 1,210 per game.

SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT
Southeastern will be the No. 2 seed in next week’s Southland Conference Baseball Tournament at Constellation Field in Sugar Land, Texas, squaring off against the No. 7 seed Nicholls at 12 p.m. Wednesday.

Tickets for the 2018 Southland Conference Baseball Tournament are on sale now at www.southland.org/baseball. They are also available by phone at 281-240-4487, and at the TDECU Ticket Office at Constellation Field.

The double-elimination tournament, scheduled for May 23-26 in Sugar Land, Texas, will feature the league’s top eight teams and conclude with a winner-take-all championship game May 26 at 6 p.m. The winner of the tournament will receive the Southland’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

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. S Club members also gain membership in the Diamond Club.

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.

SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on Lions Baseball, follow @Lions_Baseball on Twitter, @SLU_LionsBaseball on Instagram, like /SLUathletics on Facebook and subscribe to the SLUathletics YouTube channel.

Southeastern 5, Houston 4
(May 18, 2018 at Hammond, La.)
———————————————————————-
Houston…………… 001 001 002 – 4 8 2 (33-21)
Southeastern…….. 001 000 04X – 5 5 0 (36-20)
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Pitchers: Houston – Hurdsman, Brayson; Ott, Kyle (3); Villarreal, Fred (4); Fletcher, Aaron (8); Bond, Nolan (8) and Lovelace, Kyle. Southeastern – Koestler, Carlisle; Lee, Peyton (6); Pickett, Gage (7); Shaffer, Trey (8); Biddy, Jared (9) and Wasinger, Daniel.

Win-Shaffer, Trey (3-1) Save-Biddy, Jared (4) Loss-Villarreal, Fred (0-2) T-2:51 A-1203
HR HOU – Lockhart, Lael (2); Davis, Joe (7).
Weather: Partly Cloudy 73, SSE 6 mph
Hurdsman faced 3 batters in the 3rd.
Villarreal faced 3 batters in the 8th.