Southeastern baseball (29-26, 10-14 SLC) dominated New Orleans (30-25, 14-10 SLC) last night at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field 10-2 en route to a comfortable first-round victory in the Southland Conference tournament. 

The Lions fell behind early, trailing 2-0 after the first inning, with both Privateer runs unearned. 

However, from the second inning onward it was all SLU, as they outscored UNO 10-0 over the remaining eight frames. 

Redshirt junior pitcher Brennan Stuprich delivered a gem on the mound for Southeastern, dealing six strikeouts in seven innings of nearly flawless work. 

“It’s a huge advantage. The city of Hammond is awesome. Having all these fans show up to the game is incredible and having the community behind you just means more to this team so we’re happy that it’s here,” Stuprich said on his squad being able to host the conference tournament. 

The pair of first-inning runs weren’t charged against the First Team All-Southland righty, as an error prevented the Lions from getting out of the inning. 

Junior SLU center fielder Jude Hall took matters into his own hands, cranking a two-run homer over the wall in right center in the top of the second to level the score at 2-2. 

However, Hall wasn’t done yet. The Yavapai College transfer dismantled a full-count pitch from UNO’s Ryan Delorbe to double Southeastern’s tally. 

Hall’s second two-run home run in as many at-bats was a no-doubter to dead center field, igniting the crowd at Alumni Field. 

The Lions continued their onslaught with a six spot in the sixth as the Privateers’ ship had officially sunk. 

Senior reliever Levi Bennett pitched two shutout innings in the eighth and ninth to close the door on third-seeded UNO. 

Bennett retired all six batters faced as SLU cruised to a statement victory in front of the raucous Lion faithful. 

“We were a little sloppy there in the first inning, giving up a couple of runs, but I thought Stuprich was unbelievable. That’s what a First Team All-Conference pitcher looks like. Jude [Hall] had two big homers and that’s a tough matchup, lefty on lefty…he hit one out of the big part of the park. It takes a man to hit it out of there,” Head Coach Bobby Barbier said regarding his two top performers. 

Next up for the Green and Gold is a winner’s bracket showdown with second-seeded Nicholls (35-20, 16-8 SLC). 

The Colonels are reigning Southland Conference champions and swept the Lions in Hammond back in early April by scores of 8-7, 7-3 and 9-5. 

Southeastern will be looking for revenge this time around in this edition of the River Bell Classic on the diamond. 

First pitch is set for 7 p.m. tonight and will be broadcast live on ESPN+ while radio listeners can tune in to 90.9 The Lion. 

Come out and show your support, Lion fans!

For all things SLU baseball, stay posted to The Lion’s Roar.