Maycee Lachney

Wildcats Win Pair at Austin College

3/14/2018 1:58:00 PM

By: LC Sports Information - Brad Welborn

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

The Louisiana College baseball team made a rare midweek road trip to Sherman, Texas to take on Austin College in a doubleheader that was postponed from early February. The Wildcats stole 12 bases between the two games, had 15 hits, and took advantage of seven Austin College errors to sweep the doubleheader with scores of 6-2 and 10-2. The Wildcats improve to 13-3 overall on the season, tied for the best record through 16 games under Head Coach Mike Byrnes, matching the 2003 team that played in the NCCAA Championship Tournament.

Game 1

The Wildcats wasted no time in pushing the issue against Austin College. Leadoff batter Brady Atkins was hit by a pitch, stole second, then after a walk and base hit moved him to third, came in to score on a balk by AC starter Justin Alphonse. The Wildcats got another run on a fly ball to right off the bat of Duncan Cornfoot three pitches later and LC had an early 2-0 lead. The Roos seemed poised to tie the game or take the lead in the bottom of the inning, loading the bases with no out, by LC starter Trey Ducote got a big strikeout after a nine-pitch at-bat, then got out of the game on a 6-4-3 double play with no damage done.

Austin College would find their way on the scoreboard in the bottom of the second after a sacrifice fly to left plated a run, but the Wildcats quickly answered in the top of the third. An error at short allowed Atkins to reach to start the inning, then Sully Martin singled to third and eventually stole second after Atkins was moved to third. A ground ball to short led to two runs after a throwing error prevented any outs from begin recorded, both Atkins and Martin scored on the play. The score remained 4-1 through the next three innings as both Alphonse and Ducote kept the opposing lineups off balance, and the defenses made plays behind them.

The Wildcats added to their lead in the top of the seventh after a leadoff single through the left side, then moved to second on his second steal of the game. He would come in from second on a double to left center off the bat of Cornfoot, his second RBI of the day. Steven Pizano added an RBI single later in the frame to left center, plating Brodie Falgoust for the Wildcats final run of the game.

Steven Pizano finished the game 2-for-4 with an RBI while Duncan Cornfoot was 1-for-3 with two RBI. Brady Atkins had one hit, scored three runs, and stole two bases and Sully Martin added a hit, two runs scored, and two steals as well to his line. Trey Ducote (1-0) picked up his first win of the season going 5.1 innings allowing just one run on five hits with one strikeout. Phillip Vidrine earned his first save of the year as well, throwing the final 1.1 innings, giving up one run on four hits.

Game 2

Once again it would be the Wildcats that would strike first in the second game of the day against Austin College. Brady Atkins set the table with a leadoff double to left center and Duncan Cornfoot drove him in three batters later on a base hit to right center to put LC up 1-0 quickly. After a scoreless second, the Cats added to their lead, taking advantage of a common theme the rest of the day, Austin College errors. A failed pickoff attempt and error allowed Atkins to go from first to third then easily score on a sacrifice fly to right by Sully Martin. Two batters later Cornfoot smashed his first home run of the season to left for his fourth RBI of the day, giving LC a 3-0 lead in the process.

The Wildcats got another run in the fourth on another error that allowed Steven Pizano to score with 2-outs in the inning. The Roos picked up their first run of the second game in the bottom of the inning on an RBI double to left center, but the three-run deficit would be as close as they would get the rest of the way. The Wildcats broke the game open in the top of the sixth inning with three runs on two hits and two errors.

With runners at second and third, a pinch-hit, 2-run single to right from Charlie Gallusser made it a 6-1 Wildcat lead. He would come in to score two batters later on the first error of the inning on a fly ball to left, but the one that would cost the Roos a run in the inning.

Up 7-2 going into the seventh inning, the Wildcats had a similar experience with three runs on two hits and one error to push their lead to 10-2. Pizano delivered an RBI single to left to make it 8-2, but after back-to-back strikeouts a throwing error on a double-steal allowed another run to score. Zane Corbell ripped a double to left to bring Pizano around for the 10^th run of the game.

Duncan Cornfoot finished the game 2-for-3 with a home run and two RBIs, while Steven Pizano was 3-for-3 with an RBI and three runs scored. Charlie Gallusser earned the first hit of his collegiate career with a 2-run single in the sixth. Brady Atkins, Zane Corbell, Pizano, and Cornfoot all had extra base hits in the game as well. Andrew Robinson (2-0) got the win scattering seven hits over 6.0 innings of work and allowing two runs with two strikeouts. Sam Bruchhaus pitched the seventh striking out the final two batters of the game.

The Wildcats have the next few days off with no American Southwest Conference series scheduled for this weekend. They will host the 20^th ranked Centenary Gents on Monday of next week at Billy Allgood Field in their final non-conference game of the season. Monday's game with Centenary will be broadcast live on Cox Sports TV. LC then hosts Sul Ross State University in an ASC series beginning March 23. Stay connected to Louisiana College baseball by following @LC_bsb on Twitter. For general athletics news follow @LC_Wildcats on Twitter or like Louisiana College Wildcats on Facebook.

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