Lions Take Series From Islanders, History Made

The SLU Lions won a much needed conference series against the Texas A&M Corpus Christi Islanders and in the process some history was made at "The Pat".  On Thursday night the Lions picked up an 11-2 victory behind a dominant pitching performance from Brandon Efferson and a hot bat by Joe Sparacino.

Efferson, who retired 18 of the first 19 batters he faced, struck out seven while giving up one run on one hit and earning his 7th win of the season.  Efferson combined with Jacob Ott, who pittched the final 1.1 innings, to record the first one hitter by SLU pitchers since Kirk Bullinger did it in 1992.  At the plate, Joe Sparacino's bat came to life as the Bear went 3-4 with two doubles and a monster 2 run home run.

Cass Hargis, who went 2-4, tied former teammate Ty Summerlin as the school's all team hits leader with 276 career hits.  Hargis' tying hit came on a RBI single up the middle in the 7th inning.

SLU pounded out 13 hits in game two on Friday night and used a six run 7th inning to beat Corpus Christi by the mercy rule 11-1.  Tyler Watkins picked up his 4th complete game of the season, as he gave up one run on only six hits and ran his record to 7-1 on the season.  Cass Hargis became the school's all time hits leader when he notched his 277th career hit.  Hargis wasted no time getting the record as he beat out the first pitch he saw on the night for an infield single in the 2nd inning.  He finished the night 1-1 with a base on balls, hit by pitch, and a sac hit.

SLU dropped the series finale on Saturday, as the Lions bats could only muster two hits.  The 7-1 loss dropped the Lions to 26-15 overall and 12-9 in the Southland Conference.  The Lions enter this weekend's SLC series at Sam Houston State tied for 3rd place in the standings with the Bearkats.  They trail league leaders Texas State and Stephen F. Austin by two games.

Game 1
TAMCC  000 000 110 -   2   1  4
SLU         015 200 21X - 11 14 1

WP - Brandon Efferson (7-2)
LP - Ian Campbell (5-4)
Save - None

Top Hitters:
Joe Sparacino 3-4, 2B, HR, 2 RBI
Josh Cryer 2-2, 3 RBI
Cass Hargis 2-4 RBI
Brock Hebert 2-5, RBI

Game Two
TAMCC  001 000 0 - 1 6 2
SLU         001 013 6 - 11 13 0

WP - Tyler Watkins (7-1)
LP - Justin Meza (2-3)
Save - None

Top Hitters:
Justin Boudreaux 4-4, HR, 5 RBI
Jonathan Pace 3-3, 2B, BB, RBI
Brock Hebert 2-4, BB, RBI, SB

Game Three
TAMCC  004 012 000 - 7 11 3
SLU         000 000 010 - 1 2 0

WP - Todd Simko (6-6)
LP - Josh Janway (3-2)
Save - None