Week in Review - 2013 Week One

Lions Baseball Week in Review

The SLU Lions kicked off the 2013 season with a weekend series sweep over the UT-Martin Skyhawks of the Ohio Valley Conference.  Friday night the Lions took game one 5-4 and followed it up with a 5-3 victory on Saturday.  SLU wore their all gold uniforms on "Solid Gold Sunday" and completed the sweep with an impressive 9-3 victory.  The Lions will hit the road for the first time this season, as they travel to New Orleans to face Tulane in a mid-week contest and to Baton Rouge Friday and Saturday to face LSU and BYU. 

Record: 3-0
SLC: 0-0
Home:  3-0
Away:  0-0
Neutral:  0-0

Last Week: 3-0
2/15/13 - UT-Martin W5-4
2/16/13 - UT-Martin W5-3
2/17/13 - UT-Martin W9-3

Notes:
With their 5-4 win on Friday night the Lions are 17-5 in home openers since The Pat was opened in 1992.  Under Jay Artigues the Lions are 7-1 in home openers, with their only lost coming to Eastern Illinois on opening day 2009.

During the Jay Artigues era (2006-present) the Lions have swept four of their eight season opening series, including three of the last four.

Fab Five - Freshmen pitchers Mason Klotz, Kyle Cedotal, John Germillion and Tate Scioneaux, along with freshman C/DH Jameson Fisher had a big impact in the Lions three wins this weekend.  Klotz and Cedotal, both pitching in relief, combined to pitch 2.2 scoreless innings.  They gave up one hit and each earned a win.  Germillion, coming in as the closer, earned is his first career save in Saturday's 5-3 win.  On Sunday Scioneaux earned the win, as he threw 6.0 innings giving up three runs on five hits and striking out six.  In Saturday and Sunday's wins Fisher went 2-6, scored three runs, drove in a run, walked, was hit by two pitches and stole two bases.  But his biggest play came as the Lions trailed 1-0 on Saturday.  Timing the UT-Martin catcher's throw to the mound just right, Fisher slid in ahead of the tag to steal home and tie the game.

Not to be Out Done - With the young guys earning the wins it was the upper classman showing them the way.  Senior Jordan Hymel pitched five solid innings giving up three earned runs on six hits and fanning six on Friday night.  The always ready Dylan Hills came in to pitch the final three innings on Friday earning the save, as he gave up no runs on no hits and struck out one.  Getting the start on Saturday was junior Sean Kennel, who gave up one earned run on six hits while striking out two Skyhawks over six innings.  Finishing off the weekend was Jason Greenleaf (2.0 IP, 0 runs, 2 hits, 3 K's) and Kaleb Manuel (1.0 IP, 0 runs, 0 hits).

Three Hot Bats - RF Harry Slade was 7-12 on the weekend with two RBI's, three runs scored, a hit by pitch and three stolen bases.  Slade, a senior from Baltimore, picked up three hits on Friday night and two apiece on Saturday and Sunday.  Ben Hernandez came out of the gates swinging a hot bat over the weekend.  The SS from Zachary HS went 5-7 with two doubles, three RBI's, scored five runs, walked four times and stole two bases.  Newcomer Corey Bryan, who played a solid CF, picked up two multi hit games.  For the weekend the junior from Faulkner State Community College went 5-14 with two doubles, four RBI's and scored three runs.

Prince of Thieves - Twice in the weekend series the Lions stole home on UT-Martin.  Fisher stole home on Saturday, as he timed the Skyhawk catcher's throw to the mound just right and slid in just ahead of the tag.  On Sunday Sam Roberson reached on a fielder's choice and was sacrificed to second.  Skyhawk pitcher Alex Boshers balked, for the second time in as many innings, sending Roberson to third.  Sensing Boshers was rattled, Roberson broke for home and slid around the tag for a straight steal of home.

Moving on Up - With the three wins this weekend Artigues (243 wins) moved into 8th place on the Southland Conference All-Time Wins list, passing Smoke Laval of UL-Monroe.  Artigues needs two more wins to pass Tony Robichaux of McNeese State.

Don't Move Your Feet - The Lions may have moved their feet in their version of the Harlem Shake video but they sure didn't move their feet in the batters box.  In the three game series this weekend SLU was hit by six pitches.  Fisher and Jesse Buratt were both hit by pitches twice.

This Week:
02/19/13 - at Tulane - 6:30pm
2/22/13 - BYU in Baton Rouge - 1pm
2/22/13 - at LSU - 7pm
2/23/13 - BYU in Baton Rouge - 1pm