Palmer Drives in Six, Privateers Baseball Powers Past Alcorn on Opening Night

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NEW ORLEANS – The University of New Orleans baseball team's bats took a little bit to get rolling, but once they did it was an offensive slugfest as UNO (1-0) pounded out a 12-3 win over the Alcorn State Braves on Friday night at Maestri Field at First NBC Ballpark.
 
The game was tied at 1-1 when the Privateers bats started to go to work against Alcorn State pitching. Hezekiah Randolph homered to left and was quickly followed up by Aaron Palmer who delivered a solo shot of his own, which also accounted for one of six RBIs on the night.
 
It was the first time Privateers hit back-to-back homers since May 2011. The six RBIs by Palmer were the most by a Privateer since Nick Schwaner drove in six against Brown in Mar. 2010. Palmer also landed a double short of the cycle.
 
From there, the Privateers continued to dominate the Braves bullpen. In the fifth, New Orleans sent all nine batters to the plate and scored five runs. Palmer delivered a bases clearing triple and Chaz Boyer also had an RBI triple. All five runs in that frame came with two outs.
 
"What makes a good ball club is somebody like Palmer tonight coming up with two outs and getting the hit," said Coach Blake Dean. "That's the kind of stuff to make a championship ball club and he came through for us.
 
Shawn Semple mixed in his off-speed stuff early and often, which helped him navigate six innings while giving up one run on four hits. Semple also struck out nine batters, one shy of his career mark which was set last season also against Alcorn State.
 
"I thought Shawn gave us a great chance to win tonight," said Dean. "What he did was plenty good enough, but I've seen Shawn throw a few times and I know he has some better stuff in the tank. He was throwing a little more off-speed tonight than he typically does because he couldn't locate the fastball, but good pitchers find ways to win. He pitched around it and gave us a chance to win and we came through for him."
 
New Orleans got the scoring started in the second inning. After Palmer and Kyle Bracey were each hit by a pitch with one out, Boyer drove in the first run with an RBI single to put the Privateers ahead 1-0. Alcorn State quickly replied in the form of LaDerik Williams who hit a solo home run to tie the game at 1-1 in the third.
 
However, that was the only run the Braves scored until the ninth inning. After Semple finished his outing, Ryan Leone and Myles Blunt each pitched an inning of scoreless relief. Blunt struck out two batters during his outing. The Privateers did not commit an error in the field and answered the call in the few opportunities they did get in the field.
 
"We didn't get a lot of opportunities, but there's a zero in the errors column and that's what matters for us," said Dean. "That's what we harped on: staying engaged, staying in the game and making 27 outs 27 outs so we're getting there, but we looked pretty good tonight."
 
In all, the Privateers went for 18 hits on the night and five Privateers had three-hit nights: Palmer, Bracey, Boyer, Ryan Calloway, and Samuel Capielano. Calloway scored three runs and Capielano hit a pair of doubles. Dakota Dean went 2-for-3 with a double, a run, and two walks. The Privateers collected seven extra base hits on the evening.
 
Alcorn State had two hit performances from Wallace Rios and Collin Carroll. In the ninth, Ashton Lewis knocked in two runs with a single. Carlos Lopez was the only one of four pitchers to go unscathed in the run column as he pitched a scoreless eighth.
 
The Privateers are back in action on Saturday against Grambling at Barrow Field. First pitch is for 6 p.m.
 
Season tickets for the 2016 campaign are available for as low as $125 and single-game tickets start at $5. For additional information, contact the UNO Atheltics Ticket Office at (504) 280-GAME (4263) or log on to the internet at http://www.unoprivateers.com.
 
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