Redhawks drop game, series to McNeese

~ The Cowboys rolled to a 10-0 win in the deciding game.

LAKE CHARLES, La. -- As the weather cooled down this weekend, McNeese State seemed to warm up.

Chris Denton pitched six shutout innings as the Cowboys won the weekend series against Southeast Missouri State with a 10-0 win at Cowboy Diamond.

McNeese (4-4) got nine hits and took advantage of nine walks to pick up its first shutout of the season and its second straight win over the Redhawks (1-3).

On a cold, overcast day when the temperature never climbed over 40 degrees, the Cowboys controlled the game throughout, scoring eight of their runs in the middle innings while Denton (2-1) coasted, combining with three relievers for a four-hitter.

Denton allowed three hits while striking out two and walking one in the left-hander's third start this season since coming back from Tommy John surgery that sidelined him for the 2005 season.

"I'm starting to get back to where I was [before the surgery]," Denton said. "I felt good."

Denton took advantage of some hard-hit outs early and enjoyed good defense, with two Redhawks getting thrown out on the bases, erasing runners on two of Southeast's four hits.

"I thought we had some chances early to get him out of his rhythm," Southeast Missouri coach Mark Hogan said. "That's the thing about these pitchers that don't throw hard -- you have to get them out of their rhythm, and we didn't."

One of the defenders who helped Denton was shortstop Bryan Cartie, whose relay throw home retired Phillip Riley at the plate when Riley tried to score from first base on Dustin Pritchett's double to left field in the fifth inning.

It was one of many highlights for Cartie, who was 2-for-3 with three RBIs, including a two-run single that highlighted a three-run fourth inning. Cartie went 5-for-9 with four runs and three RBIs on the weekend.

He also pitched the ninth inning, completing the shutout by getting out of a bases-loaded jam.

Like Saturday, when McNeese received nine walks and had three runs walked in during a 7-6 victory, the Cowboys again took advantage of gifts on Sunday. Southeast Missouri committed two errors, walked nine batters -- two of which forced in runs --and hit two batters.

Redhawks starter Jamie McAlister (0-2) did not make it out of a three-run fourth inning. The Cowboys picked up three of their hits in the inning, including Cartie's two-run single that knocked McAlister out of the game.

Three of the Redhawks hits came off the bat of Phillip Riley.

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Southeast summary

Southeast McNeese State

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Payne ss 3 0 0 0 Cartie ss-p 3 1 2 3

Padilla 2b 2 0 0 0 Knowles 3b 3 0 1 4

Grhm ph-2b 2 0 0 0 Kingery cf 3 0 0 0

Lawson rf 2 0 0 0 Hulett c 4 0 1 1

Shah ph-rf 2 0 0 0 Zabasky dh 4 1 1 0

Graham lf-p 3 0 0 0 Dugas ph 0 0 0 0

Moore 2b 0 0 0 0 Leatherwd dh 0 0 0 0

Clayton ph 0 0 0 0 Hays rf 2 0 0 0

Zollner pr 0 0 0 0 Faul ph-rf 2 1 1 0

Rave 1b 3 0 1 0 Stutes 1b 2 2 0 1

Riley 3b-p 4 0 3 0 Stutes 1b 2 2 0 1

Schuh cf 3 0 0 0 Coover 1b 1 0 0 0

Pritchett dh 3 0 1 0 Fontenot lf 5 2 2 0

Gibson lf 0 0 0 0 Landry 2b-ss 3 3 1 1

Rouse c 4 0 0 0

Totals 31 0 5 0 Totals 32 10 9 10

Southeast 000 000 000-- 0 5 2

McNeese St. 002 341 00X -- 10 9 1

E--Riley, Rouse, Knowles. LOB--SEMO 9, McNeese 11. 2B--Pritchett, Zabasky. SB --Hulett. SAC --Cartie. SF--Knowles.

IP H R ER BB SO

Southeast Missouri

McAlister L, 0-2 3 1/3 5 5 4 2 3

Parham 1 0 3 3 2 0

Maupin 2/3 1 1 1 3 0

Taylor 1 3 1 1 0 0

Graham 1 0 0 0 2 0

Riley 1 0 0 0 0 0

McNeese State

Denton W, 2-1 6 3 0 0 1 2

Chandler 1 1 0 0 1 0

Buck 1 0 0 0 0 2

Cartie 1 1 0 0 2 1

HBP--by McAlister (Landry), by Parham (Stutes), by Buck (Payne). WP--Denton. PB--Hulett. Balk--McAlister. T--2:51. A--2,550.