Privateers Finish 8-2 Road Trip With Win

Pearce Howard's two-run single won
Sunday's nightcap at Lamar in the 12th

The Privateer baseball team left for its 10-day road trip on the verge of falling off a cliff, and returned in the thick of the race to qualify for the Southland Conference tournament.

New Orleans continued its odyssey this past weekend in Beaumont, claiming two out of three games at last-place Lamar, with the only Cardinal victory somehow coming over UNO superstar hurler Bryan Warzek, who was uncharacteristically wild in walking six in just four innings of work.

The Privateers, however, came up with 21 innings of superb work from the rest of the staff in a Sunday doubleheader sweep of Lamar, allowing just two runs for the entire day.  UNO won the first game 6-2, and the nightcap 2-0 in 12 innings.

On Tuesday, if the baseball gods had a truly wicked sense of humor, they would have taken advantage of a third straight close UNO-Tulane contest by gifting the Bucs a third consecutive win via wild pitch.  But in reality, the Green Wave took this round on a walkoff double, claiming a 4-3 victory over the Pelican Cup champs.

Finally, on Wednesday, New Orleans rallied past Southern in Baton Rouge, 7-5. Collin Morrill had three hits, and Devin Morrill and Beau Bratton added two apiece to fuel the Privateer offense, while the pitching staff struck out 17 Jaguars.

UNO returns home 17-17 overall and 7-8 in the Southland Conference, placing them in eighth place (eight teams qualify for the tournament).  A big series awaits back at Maestri Field against McNeese beginning Friday night at 6:30 p.m.

Privateers Halfway to Perfect Road Trip

The Privateers left Maestri Field last Sunday with a 9-15 overall record and a 2-7 league record, facing a 10-game road trip that threatened to completely unravel their season.

After claiming the Pelican Cup at Tulane this evening, the Privateers are now 5-0 on that road trip, with a conference series looming at cellar-dwelling 6-22 Lamar this weekend.

Bryan Warzek fanned 16
in Saturday's win

For the second time in two games against the Wave, the Privateers won on a wild pitch in the ninth inning. This time, it was a lower scoring affair that ended 3-2 in favor of the silver and blue.

The road trip began with a quality 8-2 victory in Mobile over a solid South Alabama team. It continued in Corpus Christi over the weekend, where UNO took the first game 13-8, the second game 2-0, and rallied from three runs down to complete the sweep, 6-5.  The highlight of the series was Bryan Warzek's dominant 8-inning, 16-strikeout performance in the middle game.

Now the Bucs head to Beaumont with another sweep on their minds against last-place Lamar.  The road trip will conclude after that with another midweek game uptown against Tulane and a game in Baton Rouge at Southern.