The Lions baseball team swept a Southland Conference 3-game series win against Incarnate Word at the Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field. The first game of the series took place Saturday, Mar. 12 and ended with an 11-0 win after senior pitcher Kyle Cedotal carried a perfect game, finishing with 13 strikeouts. The two following games, ending with a 4-2 and 9-0 win, were made into a doubleheader after the weather flooded out Friday’s game. The 3-game series was originally scheduled to host the first game on Friday, one on Saturday and the final on Sunday.
“We had a lot of distractions with the weather,” said Head baseball Coach Matt Riser. “We got rained out Friday night. We had flood water all around. We had one guy that wasn’t even able to be here because he got flooded in. So [there were] a lot of distractions to go out there and not be able to perform, but I thought the guys set the tone yesterday coming out with an 11 nothing win.”
Water flooded the Hammond area Friday, resulting in the university closing and the series opener being canceled. Despite the change in schedule, however, the Lions fought hard and were prepared for curve balls.
“We try to be mentally ready for everything, regardless of what it is, because anything can happen,” said Cedotal. “We play an outdoor sport, so anything like that can happen. It’s something you have to be ready for.”
For Saturday’s game, Cedotal fell only one shy of tying his career high in strikeouts. Cedotal struck out seven consecutive batters from the beginning of the fifth however, helping set the tone for the rest of the series.
“The guy’s a veteran,” said Riser. “The reason he was on game one is because we feel very confident. We can start the series one and zero with him on the bump, and he did a good job going out there and not trying to do too much, making his pitches, locating his pitches and also, he got a great result out of it, and it set us out in the right direction for the weekend.”
There is a lot that goes through the mind of a pitcher as he steps onto the mound also.
“You just got to think, ‘attack, attack,’” said Cedotal. “You can’t fall behind, you just have to go right after guys. That helps a lot. When you’re pitching from behind it makes it a lot easier for them to guess what’s coming and hit the ball well. And if you’re ahead it’s a lot harder for them because there’s a lot more you could do.”
Both Riser and Cedotal acknowledged the talent of the Incarnate Word Cardinals, however and recognized the team’s own talent shown throughout the weekend.
“It’s a younger club; [and] those guys competed well,” said Riser. “For us, I think we competed well. We did a good job of jumping on early and finishing late. I thought we did a better job this weekend of dominating our fast balls. We got fast ball counts, took better swings, and started driving some baseballs. The wind was blowing out, but I thought the guys would hit them with no doubters.”
The Lions made a couple home runs throughout the series, including senior catcher and infielder Jameson Fisher’s fifth homerun of the season.
“Our hitters are there,” said Cedotal. “They are always going to be there, it’s just a matter of time before everything catches fire or not. This weekend I feel like everybody was on fire.”
The Lions’ next game will be today, Mar. 15 at the Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field at 6:00 p.m. against South Alabama. Southeastern Athletics will host Local Heroes Night. All first responders will receive free admission if they attend in uniform or present a valid ID.
The Lion’s Roar / Megan Ferrando
The Lions took home a series win against Incarnate Word this past weekend. Senior pitcher Kyle Cedotal credited the hitters to helping take home the wins. After the game Lion fans (above) ran the bases previously ran by aforementioned players.