Box Score UNO-McN Box Score
LAKE CHARLES, La. – McNeese State scored eight runs over the middle three innings to down the University of New Orleans 8-1 on Wednesday night.
MSU (22-25) right fielder Lee Orr went 3-for-5 with two runs and four RBIs. Orr's night included a two-run home run in the fifth inning to put the Cowboys ahead for the first time in the game.
Jace Peterson added three more hits and scored a pair of runs as MSU sent UNO (3-44) to the team's 15th straight loss.
The Privateers, who failed to score in the first eight innings in each of their previous two games, posted the first run of the game in the third inning.
Back-to-back singles by Blake LeBlanc and Nolan Church was followed by an Orr error, leading to an RBI single by Steffan Farrell for a 1-0 UNO lead. Church was 3-for-4 to lead the Privateers with LeBlanc adding two more hits.
The run awakened the MSU offense, which sprung into action in the middle innings.
The Cowboys received a bases loaded walk in the fourth inning to plate their first run. Orr's two-run home run provided MSU a 3-1 lead prior to a five-run sixth.
The big frame for the Cowboys started when the first three batters reached base on UNO starter Zach Kelt (1-10), which included an error during a sacrifice bunt effort by the hosts. The loss was a school-record 10th for Kelt, eclipsing current teammate Tyler Sanders and three others.
Kelt's day ended with five official innings pitched, allowing six runs – four earned – on nine hits.
With the right-handed pitcher out of the game, MSU's string of batters reaching base hit five as Robert Ormsbee came out of the bullpen to close the sixth. Ormsbee pitched a scoreless seventh with Jordan Nelson following suit in the eight.
Jaden Dillon (1-3) picked up his first collegiate win by allowing just one unearned run, while yielding five hits and striking out six over five innings. Jonathan Conrad and Trey McGee pitched two scoreless innings apiece out of the bullpen.
The Privateers will enter a break for spring exams before resuming their 2011 schedule with a three-game series at Kansas State that begins Mar. 13.
