Angelle leads LU to first SLC win

Chase Angelle pitched a sensational game and the Lamar baseball team backed him with eight runs on 15 hits to give the Cardinals its first Southland Conference win on an 8-1 victory over New Orleans on Wednesday at Maestri Field.

Saturday’s game was moved from 2 o’clock to 1 o’clock, and Sunday’s finale remains at its slated time as of Friday night, although the option for a doubleheader will be discussed Saturday morning. Angelle (2-3) pitched a complete game for the Cards (9-12, 1-6 Southland Conference) and allowed only one run and scattered seven hits. He held a shutout through 7.1 frames. The Privateers fell to 8-13 on the season and 2-5 in league play.

The senior put together four three up, three down innings (second, fourth, sixth, ninth), and only allowed five runners to make it into scoring position. Angelle finished with 117 pitches and had two walks and 10 strikeouts, a career high. “He did a great job tonight. Chase finishing the game was so important to us,” said longtime head coach Jim Gilligan. “We never got anybody fully warm and we are in better shape for the rest of the series.”

Angelle had been the “Saturday guy” for the Cardinals for most of this season. It was the first series he opened. “He learned a little something about pitching tonight, and hopefully he will share it with his teammates,” said Gilligan.”

CJ Moore started off the game with a one-out triple to right center in the first inning, and scored on a fielder’s choice that allowed Kevin Santana to reach first base. His fielder’s choice got Jake Nash, who was plucked with a three-ball count, at second base. “We did a great job offensively too,” said Gilligan. “On the flip side of our pitching, they had to throw two relievers, so that could be a factor too.”

Lamar added another in the third inning when Reed Seeley singled to centerfield and scored Moore for the second time. Moore reached with a one-out infield single and advanced to second on when Nash flew out to left field. Santana pushed Moore up to third base with another infield single.

The Cardinals took advantage of a couple of UNO errors in the fifth inning and pushed it to 4-0. Nash reached first to lead off the inning after he was plucked for the second time in the game. He reached second on a groundout from Santana and took third after a failed pickoff attempt rolled into center field. He scored when Seeley reached on a fielding error, and Seeley scored on Kyle Markum’s double to right center.

The dagger was in the seventh inning, which started with three-straight singles from Santana, Seeley and Markum. Markum’s hit scored Santana for his second run batted in of the game, tied a career high. Seeley scored when Brendan Satran reached on a throwing error from the third baseman on a sacrifice bunt, and Markum scored on Mason Salazar’s sacrifice fly to right field.

LU’s final run of the game and seventh inning was Satran on Justin Eckols’ sacrifice fly.

The Privateers scored their lone run in the bottom of the seventh inning when Ray Veit grounded out to second base and pushed across Matt Rykacze. Rykacze reached on a first-pitch double to center field and advanced to third on a ground out from Parker Jones.

Seeley finished with three hits in five at-bats and had two runs scored and one knocked in. Moore was 2-for-6 with two runs scored- a season high, and Markum was 2-of-4 with two RBI and a run. Stijn van der Meer and Santana also contribute two hits to the cause.

All but one hitter in the starting lineup had a hit in the contest, and every starter reached base. Lamar used two pinch hitters, and one (Provost) reached base on a hit. It was Lamar’s second shutout this season, first was a 12-0 win over Manhattan. Alex Smith (2-4) took the loss on five innings pitched and allowed four runs, two earned, on nine hits and a strikeout. Jared Taylor relieved him for two innings and gave up four runs on three hits. Nick Halliday finished the game and gave up three hits.