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NEW ORLEANS, La. – The New Orleans Privateers baseball team (2-3) got a strong outing from
Shawn Semple and a five-run fifth in a 5-0 win over the Alcorn State Braves (1-4) on Friday evening at Maestri Field at First NBC Ballpark.
Semple threw 6.2 shutout innings and struck out 10 batters. He got into a groove early and recorded seven of his strikeouts in the first three innings. Semple slipped off the mound on his last batter faced and was taken out as a precautionary measure.
Darron McKigney came in and finished off the frame.
"He pitched a great game. We were going to take him out anyway, but he slipped and he said he just cramped a little bit. I didn't want to take a chance. We were going to go the next inning with Darron anyway. For a freshman, he's done a great job for us," said Coach
Ron Maestri on the victorious pitcher.
The Privateers got all their runs in one inning against Colton Laird who threw 39 pitches through the first four innings.
Jonathan Coco just missed a home run on a breaking ball to lead off the inning. New Orleans eventually loaded the bases with one out and a dropped fly ball off the bat of
Chaz Boyer pushed the first run across.
An RBI sac fly from
Samuel Capielano made the score 2-0, and the Privateers got a key two-out hit from
Ryan Calloway to punch two more runs across. New Orleans also made the Braves pay for a pair of errors in the inning. All five runs New Orleans scored were unearned.
Defensively, the Privateers went through a clean game in the field, committing no errors and making some solid plays including a sprawling catch by Calloway in the top of the fifth. "When you get good pitching and you make the plays, you're going to win ball games. You can't rest on your laurels and so far we've gotten it from these guys," said Maestri.
Calloway went 2-for-4 at the plate with two RBIs, a run, and a stolen base. Capielano went 1-for-3 with a run driven in while Coco and
Jonathan Santana each scored a run.
Kevin Kelleher closed out the game in a non-save situation, striking out two batters in the ninth.
The Braves were limited to just three hits on the night, all of them singles. Laird went 6.2 innings and striking out four batters. The Braves committed three errors on the evening, including two in the five-run fifth. Alcorn State batters struck out 12 times.
New Orleans will take back to the field for the second game of the MLB Urban Youth Invitational on Saturday against Southern. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.
For more information, follow the Privateers on Twitter
@UNOPrivateers and
@Privateers_BSB or like us on
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