Southeast suffers 7-6 defeat in Louisiana's wintry weather

LAKE CHARLES, La. -- The McNeese State Cowboys were walking in a winter wonderland on Saturday.

Well, as much of a winter wonderland as this part of the country is likely to see.

In the cold, the wind and the rain, McNeese took advantage of nine walks to defeat Southeast Missouri State 7-6.

Southeast pitchers walked in three runs on four consecutive walks in the second inning, helping McNeese snap a four-game losing skid.

"We were disciplined enough to take the pitches and the walks and be able to score on them," McNeese head coach Chad Clement said. "It's good to win, especially at home. If you want to be a good team, you have to play well at home."

McNeese (3-4) and Southeast (1-2) finish their three-game series at 1 p.m. today.

Redhawks starting pitcher Asif Shah (0-1) lasted only 1 2/3 innings, getting bumped in the second inning after walking three Cowboys in a row, sending Nick Buck and Charlie Kingrey across the plate.

Brent Lawson relieved for the Redhawks and walked home Bryan Cartie, giving the Cowboys a 3-2 lead, before getting Thomas Zabasky to fly out for the last out of the inning.

"That's terrible," Southeast coach Mark Hogan said of the walks. "Obviously, you can't give a good club those type of opportunities."

Sam English (1-1) took the win for McNeese, pitching through the eighth inning. English gave up six runs on eight hits in 7 2/3 innings, retiring the side in both the fourth and fifth innings.

"English threw really well," Hogan said. "If we had got a couple more runs out of him the first inning, he probably would have had to come out early, but he hung in there."

English gave up two runs -- scored by Jordan Payne and Andrew Graham --in the first inning, sending out signals that this would be like McNeese's 8-1 loss to Southeast on Friday.

But McNeese battled back to take the lead in the second, then took the lead for good in the fourth. Cartie doubled to open the inning, then was followed onto base by Kingrey, who walked. Joe Hulett sent Cartie home on a single, then both Kingrey and Hulett scored on Thomas Zabasky's two-RBI double.

Down 7-4 entering the eighth inning, the Redhawks gave one last burst, finally knocking English off the mound. With Omar Padilla and Andrew Graham on third and first, respectively, Aaron Rave delivered his fourth and fifth RBIs of the game, sending both home to cut the lead to one.

Rave went 3-for-4 at the plate.

But reliever Ryan Leger struck out the first three batters he faced, retiring the side in the ninth to end the game and earn the save.