Game 1 Box Score / Game 2 Box Score
PINEVILLE – For 13 ½ innings of Louisiana College's doubleheader against Wiley College, fate, luck and achievement were all squarely in the corner of the team from Marshall, Texas. Yet, after falling 8-1 to Wiley in game one and trailing Wiley 4-0 in the sixth inning of the game two, LC rallied to score five in the sixth, pick up a 5-4 win and snap a five-game skid.

“Just a great team effort,” LC coach Mike Byrnes said. “They've been competing their tails off all season. I'm glad they could finally put it all together and get a win. We put up a five spot in the sixth inning and closed out a close game. That's something we've struggled with at times … Hopefully, this can be a turning point for and is a sign of things to come.”

LC (7-14) has at times struggled to close out games, and had blown leads four times in the last two weeks to lose games.

Friday versus Wiley, the home-standing Wildcats finally had enough.

After reliever and winning pitcher Jordan Meisner (2-0) got LC out of a jam in the top of the sixth, Louisiana College scored one run when freshman Cole Bagbey scored after stealing third and advancing home on an error by the Wiley catcher.

Then, facing a 4-2 deficit, LC worked itself into a bases-loaded, one-out situation to set up the play of the game, a two-RBI, opposite-field double by shortstop Brandt Daigle that tied the score at 4-4.

“It was just a fast ball, outside,” Daigle said of the pitch he took to the right-field wall. “I just sat back and tried to do something with it; put it in play and make something happen.”

Two batters later, leadoff man Cody Laprarie made the most of his only hit of the day, driving in the winning run with an infield RBI.

Pitcher Grant Cox then took advantage of his first save opportunity of the season, slamming the door on Wiley's attempt to tie to send LC into a week-long break with the win, one the entire LC baseball family hopes can spark a run as Louisiana College returns to conference play.

“It was a big win,” Daigle said. “I think it could start a turn-around for us. We started out bad in conference (being swept by Mississippi College) but it wouldn't surprise me if we found a way to win a few conference games the next couple weeks.”

In game one, bookend bad innings doomed the LC to an 8-1 loss.

Wiley scored its eight runs on 11 hits with LC committing three errors. Nine of those hits and all of the errors came in either the first of seventh inning.

Wiley had three runs, four hits and benefitted from two Louisiana College errors before LC registered an out in the first inning, part of a four-run first for the visiting team.

The next five innings went great for LC and starting pitcher Justin Reed, who struck out two and walked none in five full innings of work and allowed just one run from the second through sixth inning.

However, in the top of the seventh, with LC reliever Steven Jones on the mound, Wiley scored three more runs to turn what was a relatively close game into a runaway, one that ended with Reed taking the loss to fall to 1-3 on the season.

The LC offense, facing lefty Marco DeLeon the complete game, struggled to get on base, producing just one run on five hits while succumbing to the strike out four times.

LC's lone game one run game on an RBI double by Jonathan Ettinger in the second, a hit that plated catcher Anthony Benoit.

Benoit was LC's top performer at the plate with a 2-for-3 showing.

LC will returns to action Friday, March 25, with a road trip to American Southwest Conference East Division foe East Texas Baptist. The teams will face off in a nine-inning game on March 25 and follow with back-to-back seven-inning contests on Saturday, March 26.

Photos from the Louisiana College vs. Wiley College Baseball Game played on Friday, 03/19/2010 at Louisiana College are available for viewing/purchase at www.enduripix.com/order.html until approximately 10 p.m. on Sunday, April 4.