Box Score NEW ORLEANS, La. – The New Orleans Privateers baseball team (11-26, 2-16 Southland) put the pressure on in a big fifth inning to help secure a 4-1 victory over the Loyola Wolfpack (25-22, 11-13 SSAC) on Wednesday at Maestri Field at First NBC Ballpark.
Trailing 1-0, the Privateers scored all of their runs in the fifth.
Brian Dixon led off with a double to the gap, one of his three hits on the night. After
Zach Liberto drew a walk,
Mitchell Alexander tried to bunt both runners over. After the field, Loyola catcher Lance Licciardi tried to get the lead runner but sailed the throw into left to allow the tying run to score.
The Privateers took the lead on an RBI infield single to short from
Samuel Capielano. The second error of the frame pushed another run across and
Jonathan Coco hit a sacrifice fly RBI to push the final run of the game across. After the run crossed,
Hezekiah Randolph was thrown out trying to advance to third.
"We said tonight we're going to make them swing the bat. Fortunately for us they kicked a couple of balls, but that's what happens when you put the pressure on. I'm proud of our guys. We got decent pitching and we got some key hits," said Head Coach
Ron Maestri.
Mitchell Cohen pitched four innings of no-hit relief for the win. Cohen surpassed his longest outing of the season by 2/3 of an inning and only allowed one base runner on a walk while throwing just 39 pitches. "You've got to throw strikes and that's what Mitch gives to you. He did a good job tonight, and gave us a chance to win," said Maestri.
Raymond Winter picked up the save by throwing the final two innings and striking out three batters. It was Winter's second save of the season. "I thought Ray threw as hard as he's thrown. He had good velocity and great location. If he can do that like he did to start, that's a good sign," said Maestri.
The Wolfpack threw seven different pitchers by design including all three weekend starters after having their weekend series washed out. Caleb Bohan took the loss for Loyola as he surrendered three runs. None of the runs given up were earned. Karson Cullins went 2-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to 11 games.
The Privateers will turn back to conference play when they face Nicholls State. The series starts in Thibodaux with a first pitch at 6:30 p.m.
