Capielano Drives in Winning Run, Privateers Baseball Defeats Sam Houston State

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NEW ORLEANS – In a near carbon copy of Wednesday night, Samuel Capielano delivered a walk-off single in the tenth inning and the University of New Orleans baseball team (12-2, 1-0) won 4-3 over the Sam Houston State Bearkats (5-10, 0-1) in their first extra inning game of the season.
 
Dakota Dean drew a walk and Hezekiah Randolph followed behind with a walk of his own. Dean got the green light to steal third, but Randolph was caught on a delayed attempt to bring it to two outs in the frame. Bearkats reliever, Spence Rahm then intentionally walked Kyle Bracey, which led up to the Capielano single that won the Privateers the game and got their conference slate started on a high note.
 
"Sam the other day, faced a little adversity and his hand was hurting," said Coach Blake Dean. "But that goes to show you right now that maybe he didn't truly believe in himself but the team around him did and that showed. I think now he's going to have a lot of confidence going forward."
 
Shawn Semple spun a gem, setting a career mark in strikeouts with 11. Semple pitched into the ninth, but was lifted with a 3-1 lead after giving up a one-out walk. Semple threw 85 of his 123 pitches for strikes. Daniel Martinez was brought on to try to close the game, but gave up a two-run homer to Robie Rojas which knotted the score at 3-3. Martinez recovered to strike out the next two batters, and pitched a clean tenth inning to pick up the win.
 
"That was an absolutely outstanding pitching performance," said Dean. "He threw the baseball well, he was throwing two pitches for strikes. The only thing that breaks my heart is that he didn't get the win because he deserved it, but ultimately the team won so obviously we're going to take that."
 
The game was scoreless through five innings as Semple and Bearkats starter, Sam Odom battled back and forth. The Bearkats struck first after Bryce Johnson led off the sixth with a double and was driven in by a Matt Broadbent RBI single with two outs.
 
The lead didn't last long though as UNO grabbed two in the bottom of the frame on an RBI ground out by Dean and a line drive double from Randolph. The Privateers added another run when Preston Marsh led off the seventh with a solo homer, his first of the season. Odom was still able to pitch nine innings and threw 123 pitches while striking out eight.
 
"They only brought eight pitchers so they're going to run their starters as long as they can," said Dean. "I told the guys we have to get their starter out early and we've got to get to their pen and see what we can do with them."
 
The Privateers won despite being out-hit 11-7 on the night. Sam Houston State had four players who collected two hits each. The Privateers got multi-hit nights from Marsh and Randolph who each delivered two hits and an RBI. Kyle Bracey walked three times and extended his on-base streak to 14 games.
 
The teams will finish the series with a doubleheader on Sunday, which starts at 11 a.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 Athletics Ticket Office at (504) 280-GAME (4263) or click HERE.
 
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