Bottom of the Order Lifts Privateers Baseball to Win Over Grambling

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NEW ORLEANS – The University of New Orleans baseball team (2-0) had an opposite route to a similar result as the Privateers took advantage of five Grambling errors, collected seven infield hits, and held on in the ninth for an 11-8 win on Saturday at Barrow Field. The loss dropped the Tigers to 1-1.
 
The Privateers broke open a 3-3 tie in the eighth inning with eight runs. The big frame was started on a double by Hezekiah Randolph that never left the infield. Aaron Palmer bunted for a single and Kyle Bracey was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs. The go-ahead run scored when Chaz Boyer hit a ground ball to second and Randolph beat the throw home.
 
RBI singles by Ryan Calloway, Samuel Capielano, and Dakota Dean followed in consecutive fashion. The scoring was capped when Bracey collected his third hit of the night on a double to the gap. Bracey was named the Darryl Hamilton Player of the Game by MLB Network.
 
New Orleans still had to stave off one last rally that Grambling had. The Tigers loaded the bases with nobody out and Daniel Barnett drove in a pair of runs with a single. Tray Bell followed with a double to deep right that cleared the bases and cut the Privateers lead to three.
 
Coach Blake Dean called on Daniel Martinez to close out the game and Martinez responded with a pair of strikeouts. The first was a punch out of Andres Castillo. The game was closed out when Martinez got Nicholas Wheeler swinging. The Privateers struck out 13 batters as a team and did not issue a free pass on the way to their first 2-0 start since 2009.
 
The bottom of the order carried the day for the Privateers at the plate. Bracey, Boyer, and Jay Robinson combined to go 6-for-13 with six runs scored and three RBIs. Bracey also reached a fourth time in the game when he was hit by a pitch.
 
"For us to be successful there's got to be multiple people who step up," said Dean. "The bottom of the order did a great job and got us some runs on the board."
 
UNO faced an early 2-0 deficit after Grambling put up solo runs in the second and third inning. The Privateers cracked the board first with three runs in the fifth and took advantage of three Tigers errors in the frame. Grambling quickly tied the game at 3-3 in the sixth with an RBI single by Wheeler.
 
Riley Hodge finished his Privateer debut outing by throwing 5.0 innings and striking out eight batters while allowing two runs on four hits. Jarred Taylor picked up the win in relief. The Privateers finished with 14 hits and four players had multi-hit efforts.

I thought Riley did a good job," said Coach Blake Dean. "When he had his control, they weren't hitting him. He hasn't thrown very much lately and we wanted to make sure we took care of his arm and he gave us an opportunity win and that's all I can ask for from a pitcher."
 
Grambling was led by five Tigers who had two hit-nights. Castillo homered in the second to open up the scoring and went 2-for-5. Wesley Drain collected two hits and scored twice from the lead-off spot. The loss went to Marlon Pruitt who gave up six earned runs (seven total) in three innings.
 
The Privateers will close the weekend against Louisiana Tech on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 1 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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