LSUS Eliminates Point University in Walk-Off Fashion

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Kym Barthel's walk-off bunt single with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the 9th inning lifted the no. 2 seed and 11th ranked LSU Shreveport Pilots to a 2-1 victory over the no. 5 seed Point Skyhawks on Tuesday evening at Harrison Field in the Opening Round in the Montgomery Bracket. The Pilots will face the no. 3 seed MidAmerica Pioneers at 3 p.m. CDT on Wednesday in an elimination game. The winner will face the host and no. 1 seed Faulkner Eagles for the bracket championship at 7 p.m. and with a win in the night cap it will force a decisive game 9 in the tournament on Thursday.
"Looking back over the last 18 innings of baseball is a coach's dream. After a day like yesterday, to come together and never give up when all day long we found ourselves battling from behind is the most rewarding thing a coach can witness," said LSUS head coach Al Cantwell after his team completed their second come from behind win to avoid elimination.
"Five times this season we found ourselves on the hard side of a walk-off loss and my heart goes out to Point," continued Coach Cantwell.
Tuesday night was a perfect example of a pitcher's duel with both pitchers working around jams throughout the ballgame. Dustin Doucette started for the Pilots as the Skyhawks countered with Christian Watford but neither one factored in the decision as both pitched well enough to get the win.
"It was fun to watch these two pitchers battle out there tonight. Hats off to Watford and the job he did to keep his team in the game and I am so proud of Doucette and the effort he gave us and allowed us to rest our pen," said Coach Cantwell.
Doucette battled through eight innings scattering seven hits while walking two and striking out twice that many. He worked out of jams in the 3rd and 6th innings as Point left a pair of runners in each of those innings and a total of seven runners on base while the Pilots stranded a total of six as Watford was just as impressive especially defensively as he made a couple highlight reel plays fielding bunts from the Pilots and throwing them out at first. The first nice play came in the 3rd inning when Barthel laid down a bunt as Watford fielded it but slipped down and still managed to get to his feet and fire it to first in time to retire Barthel. The other spectacular play he made came in the 8th inning when Connor McMullin dropped one down and Watford bobbled it and then kicked it to the first base line and hustled over to relay a back handed toss with his glove to the first baseman to retire McMullin on the sac-bunt.
The Pilots (44-17) failed to get that runner home in the 8th as they waited until the 9th for ending everyone was hoping for against one of the more dominating closers in the NAIA Travis Tarleton who enter the game with 11 saves, 5th best in the NAIA. The Pilots have done well against their opponent's top reliever out of the pen and Tuesday night was no different although Tarleton entered the game with David Dorton led off the inning with a single to right and then Brenden Meade was called upon to move over David Diaz, Dorton's courtesy runner, and he got the bunt down and the Pilots reached safely as the bunt rolled under the third baseman's glove. Up next Blair Landry moved the runners over with a sac-bunt.
The next two batter Kade Billeaudeaux and William Breland walked to tie the game at one setting the table for Barthel who ended the game with a bunt single. Everyone thought that the Pilots had won the game when Billeaudeaux hit a chopper to first as it hit off the drawn-in leaping first baseman and went into right field to score the tying and winning runs. As the Pilots celebrated for it was then realized that the umpire had called the ball foul and the runners had to return to second and third.
Point (32-27) scored their lone run in the top of the 7th inning via a 1-out single, then a balk got the runner to second allowing for Jeffery Ginn to drive in what they thought might be the winning run but Doucette held them at bay through the eighth inning and Riley Spencer came in and faced the minimum in the 9th, striking out the final two batters after a one-pitch fly out to the leadoff hitter of the inning. Spencer picked up his third win of the season while Tarleton suffered his first loss of the season.

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Source: LSU-S Sports Information Dept.