HAMMOND, La. – The New Orleans Privateers scored 10 runs in the last two innings and held off a ninth inning charge by the Northwestern State Demons as they won 12-11 to advance to the championship series.
The Privateers will play HCU next week in Houston to decide the Southland postseason champion and automatic bid.
Trailing for most of the game and 8-2 heading to the eighth, the Privateers erupted for six runs in the inning to tie the score.
Adrian Dominguez started the rally with a one-out pinch hit double.
Two batters later,
Alexander Saunier hit a ball through the right side for an RBI single.
Tristan Moore then came up with bases loaded and hit a bases clearing double up the first base line. That set it up for
Bryan Loriga who blasted a two-run homer inside the left field foul pole to tie the game.
Northwestern State took the lead back in the bottom of the eighth inning after a run scored on a balk with two outs and two strikes.
Undeterred, the Privateers came back again with a four-run ninth inning.
Matt Gonzalez singled and advanced to third on an error, and was later driven in by a
Bryce Calloway single.
Moore gave the Privateers the lead and
Diego Villescas provided some insurance runs with a two-run single to push the lead to 12-9.
The Demons got two runs back on an two-run single by Braden Benton, but Calloway got a strikeout of Cade Pregeant to secure the victory and an undefeated run through the Hammond bracket.
The Privateers will play for their first postseason championship since joining the Southland. Their last postseason conference championship was in 2007 when they were a member of the Sun Belt.
INSIDE THE BOX
Calloway went 4-for-5 with a home run and drove in three runs. Moore and Loriga combined for six RBI on the night. Gonzalez went 3-for-4 with two runs scored.
Tyler Velino,
Trey Usey and
Matthew Bienvenu each threw a scoreless inning.
Carson Kimball picked up the victory to move to 2-1 on the season.
BLUES ON TUES. NEWSLETTER
To keep up with all athletics news at the University of New Orleans, subscribe
here for our weekly newsletter.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Fans are encouraged to follow
@PrivateersBSB on X,
@PrivateersBSB on Instagram, like
Privateers Baseball on Facebook and subscribe to the
UNOPrivateers YouTube.
