PINEVILLE, La. – The Louisiana College baseball team smashed nine extra base hits, including three home runs, during Saturday's doubleheader against Hardin-Simmons as the Wildcats swept both games from the Cowboys 8-6 and 11-1 at Billy Allgood Field at Legacy Stadium.
Game 1 – Hardin-Simmons 6, Louisiana College 8
In what would be a harbinger of things to come, when Louisiana College came to bat in the bottom of the first inning, the first time a bat hit a ball,
Alex Ashby rocketed it over the left field wall for a lead-off home run and a 1-0 lead.
Christian Vandergrift made it 2-0 as he scored on a passed ball, and then
Keelyn Johnson made it 3-0 as he came in on a wild pitch.
But the Cowboys had their own version of the long ball as HSU took advantage of an extra opportunity by hitting a three-run shot to tie the score. The Wildcats retook the lead in the bottom half as
Keelyn Johnson's RBI single plated
Brodie Falgoust from second base for a 4-3 LC lead.
Hardin-Simmons took their only lead of the day in the third inning as a two-run homer gave the Cowboys a 5-4 advantage. That lead would last just one inning as
Dane Pedersen found the left-center gap for a double that plated Johnson and Ashby to put the Wildcats up to stay for the rest of the day. Later in the inning, an error allowed Pedersen to come home to make it 7-5.
HSU looked like it was in position to at least tie the game in the sixth inning with the bases loaded and one out, and a sinking liner seemed to do the trick as it fell in for a base hit. But the runners had held so while a run came in from third, the Wildcats got the force at second and threw out the runner heading to third for the 8-4-5 double play to retire the side and retain the lead. The Wildcats got that run back in the bottom of the frame as
Beau Freeman's ground ball to short allowed Pedersen to come to the plate for the game's final run.
Alex Ashby,
Dane Pedersen, and
Keelyn Johnson were all two-for-three at the plate in game one. Ashby's home run was his second of the season and accounted for one of his two runs scored and his lone RBI. Pedersen had a double, two RBI, and two runs scored. Johnson also had a RBI and scored twice.
Brooks Southall (2-1) started the contest and threw five innings, giving up six hits and five runs, just two earned, walked one and struck out six.
Gerald Groue, Jr. picked up his first save of the season by throwing the final inning and retiring all three batters he faced, two with strikeouts.
Andrew Robinson also worked an inning and gave up two hits and an earned run with one strikeout and one walk.
Game 2 – Hardin-Simmons 1, Louisiana College 11
Game two started much like game one did, with
Christian Vandergrift getting LC on the board with its first base hit of the game as he homered to left for a 1-0 lead.
Ty Morgan made it 2-0 at the end of the first inning as his RBI single dropped in left and scored
Dane Pedersen from second. Vandergrift added a third in the third inning as he dropped a base hit into the right-center gap to score
Alex Ashby from first.
HSU got their lone run of the contest on a sacrifice fly in the top of the fourth. But LC got that run back almost immediately as
Nick Moreau's base hit to center scored
Ju'Juan Franklin from second base for a 4-1 LC lead after four.
Ty Morgan made it a 5-1 game in the fifth inning as he slipped a RBI single through the left side of the infield to plate Vandergrift from third, and then came the big hit as
Nicolas Ramos found a pitch he liked with two runners on base and deposited it over the right field wall for a three-run home run and an 8-1 lead. LC's final three runs all came in the seventh inning as Peyton Lemartiniere knocked in Pedersen,
Clint Stephens scored on a wild pitch, and Ramos came home on a
Jacob Fowler sac fly.
Christian Vandergrift went three-for-four in game two with his second home run of the season, a double, two RBI, two runs scored, and a stolen base.
Dane Pedersen was two-for-three with both hits being doubles and two runs scored.
Ty Morgan was also two-for-three with two RBI and a run scored. In his first action of the season,
Nicolas Ramos went two-for-two with his first home run of the year, two walks, three RBI, and two runs scored.
Colten Newsom (2-0) got the start and the win, throwing 6.1 innings and giving up just four hits and one run, which was earned, walked one and struck out five.
Beau Hebert finished out the final 2.2 inning by getting out all eight batters he faced, half of which were with strikeouts.
The Wildcats (8-2, 5-0 ASC) look to finish off their second straight conference sweep on Sunday with the final game of the series against Hardin-Simmons. First pitch against the Cowboys (1-5, 1-4 ASC) is set for 12:00 P.M. at Billy Allgood Field at Legacy Stadium.
