Hammond, La - Southeastern Louisiana rallied from 6-0 down to defeat Sam Houston 6-0 in the second game of a Southland Conference baseball series Saturday afternoon at Pat Kenelly Diamond.
The Lions' Cody Gougler hit a game-tying, one-out double in the seventh inning and Brock Hebert added a RBI triple in the eighth for the winning run.
Southeastern (35-14, 17-9 Southland), which rallied to win from its largest deficit of the year, moved to within two games of league leader Texas State, a 5-2 loser at McNeese State, in the Southland Conference standings. The Lions' previous best rally came against UTSA on March 12 when they turned an 8-3 deficit into a come-from-behind 10-9 win.
Southeastern and Sam Houston State (17-31, 9-17 Southland) conclude their three-game series on Sunday in a 1 p.m. contest.
Senior right-hander Chris Franklin (7-4) tossed his third straight complete game in as many starts for Southeastern despite giving up all six runs - three unearned - and allowing nine hits.
SHSU took a 2-0 lead three batters into the game when Chris Andreas' two-run single scored Greg Olson and Braeden Riley. The Bearkats scored four more runs in the fourth inning as they sent nine men to the plate and built a 6-0 lead.
Mark Hudson and Taylor Davis led off the inning with singles before Hudson scored from second on an attempted sacrifice bunt by Ryan Mooney. Mooney reached when Franklin's throw sailed past first base, sending Mooney to second. Tyler Fiebrich struck out but reached first on a passed ball to load the bases and Michael Hilliard followed with a two-run single for a 5-0 lead.
Riley, who went 3-for-5 to lead SHSU, added an RBI single that drove in Fiebrich, but Franklin settled down allowing two hits over the final 5.1 innings.
Southeastern rallied quickly in the bottom of the fourth as it sent nine men to the plate and closed the SHSU lead to 6-5. Jeff Harkensee and Gougler reached on singles before Joe Sparacino singled two batters later to load the bases.
Chris Ernest followed with an RBI single to put the Lions on the board before Hebert hit a two-run single and Trey Martin followed with a two-run double just inside the third-base line.
The Lions tied the game in the seventh after Justin Boudreaux led off the inning with a bunt single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Harkensee. Gougler greeted SHSU reliever Justin Jackson (1-4) with a double off the wall in right field that scored Boudreaux and knotted the game at 7-7.
After Franklin retired the Bearkats in order in the eighth, Southeastern took the lead for good in the bottom half of the frame scoring a pair of runs. Ernest hit a one-out single through the left side before Hebert, a true freshman, belted his first career triple to right-center field to drive in pinch-runner Alex Marse before scoring one batter later on Martin's high chopper to first.
SHSU starter Brent Powers went 6.1 innings, allowing 10 hits and six runs with seven strikeouts. Jackson took the loss as he pitched the final 1.2 innings, allowing three hits and a pair of runs.
