HAMMOND, La. – The New Orleans Privateers (29-21) got seven innings from
Tyler LeBlanc and exploded late offensively to pull away to a 10-3 win over the HBU Huskies (18-35) on Thursday afternoon at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field.
The Privateers have advanced to the winner's side of the bracket where they will face the winner of Southeastern-Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Friday at 6 p.m.
In the win,
Pearce Howard tied Brian Traxler for first place on the program's career list in RBI with 206.
DECISIONS
LeBlanc threw 72 of his 111 pitches for strikes and gave the Privateers seven innings on the mound with five strikeouts. Brennen Bales took the loss after surrendering two runs in 2.1 innings of work.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Both pitchers set a solid tone early as the game was scoreless until the third inning. That's when Bales did double duty as he homered to left field to put the Huskies in front 1-0. That lead was short lived though as the Privateers responded in a big way in the bottom of the frame.
The bases were loaded with one out when
Kasten Furr doubled,
Amani Larry walked and Howard reached on an error. That's when
Miguel Useche came up and uncoiled yet another grand slam for the Privateers in Hammond in a conference tournament setting. It was the first this year and the fourth over the last two Southland tournaments in Hammond.
From there, the game remained in favor of the Privateers but HBU narrowed the gap in the seventh. Lane Botkin singled to the opposite field which scored Sebastian Trinidad. Two batters later, Kevin Ortiz homered to right to cut the Privateer lead to 4-3.
However, New Orleans extended out again when Howard hit a two-run triple as part of a three-run seventh inning. Larry smashed a three-run homer in the eighth to put the game further out of reach.
Caleb Seroski shut the door as he fired two scoreless innings and threw 22 of his 31 pitches for strikes.
INSIDE THE BOX
Useche had a career-best five RBI on the day. Furr went 4-for-5 with a double and three runs. Larry also scored three runs and reached base three times. Howard was 2-for-3 and scored twice.
Issac Williams went 1-for-4 with a double and a run.
SOCIAL MEDIA
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