Can’t hold on: Cougars rally past Cowboys
Published 6:58 pm Wednesday, May 17, 2017
The McNeese State baseball team struggled to hold on to a lead and Houston came from behind to beat the Cowboys 5-4 Tuesday night at Joe Miller Ballpark.
The loss was the Cowboys’ (34-17) second of the season to the Cougars (34-18), but McNeese head coach Justin Hill remained upbeat after the game.
“We made some mistakes, and the mistakes we made cost us,” Hill said. “But I’m choosing to look at the positives.”
There was reason for the Cowboys to celebrate as speedster Robbie Podorsky etched his name in the McNeese record books after he picked up two steals, increasing his season total to 36 and setting the single-season school record. The previous record of 35 was held by former Cowboys Jace Peterson (2010) and Jason Alleman (1990).
“It’s very humbling,” Podorsky said. “Last summer I didn’t have a place to play at first. So having the opportunity to come here has been humbling, and we have a great thing going here.”
The Cowboys led on three occasions with Houston responding almost immediately after each.
McNeese got on the board first in the third inning with an RBI single by Ricky Ramirez that scored Podorsky, but the Cougars tied the score in the fourth inning with a Joe Davis RBI double.
The Cowboys scored a pair of runs in the fifth inning, but then gave up two in a sixth inning that featured one hit, a balk, a wild pitch and two errors.
Ramirez once again gave McNeese a lead with his second RBI single, this time scoring Mitchell Rogers to give the Cowboys a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the sixth.
But once again the Cougars responded and took their first lead with two runs in the seventh inning.
Freshman and Kinder High product Gavin Sonnier had a career night as he made his first collegiate start.
Sonnier went three innings of scoreless no-hit ball, giving the Cowboys the opportunity to take an early lead.
Hill said the performance was a culmination of the hard work Sonnier has been putting in.
“It was good to see Gavin go out there and give us three zeroes in his first college start,” Hill said. “It wasn’t perfect. It’s never how you draw it up. … He may not be ready for that early in the year, but the fact that he’s been in the moment and doing those things, that was big and part of his growth.”
Tyler Wesley suffered up the loss in relief as he gave up two runs in the seventh inning.
Nolan Bond earned the win with 41⁄3 innings in relief in which he gave up one run on four hits.
The Cowboys will return to The Jeaux on Thursday for the first game of their season-ending series against Lamar. McNeese will have an opportunity to clinch the Southland Conference title with a win against the Cardinals.
Cowboy SS Will Fox tags out Houston’s #2 during a pickoff at 2nd. (Rick Hickman / American Press)
