ALEXANDRIA, LA – The Louisiana State University of Alexandria baseball team (7-7, 3-0 RRAC) celebrated Valentine's Day by completing a sweep of Xavier University of Louisiana (1-5, 0-3 RRAC) with a pair of wins, 13-9 and 14-1, in the opening weekend of Red River Athletic Conference play.
 
"It was a good day," LSUA Head Coach Kody Gautreaux said. "Anytime you can come out in conference and get three wins, it's a huge weekend. After yesterday, we had to challenge guys this morning to come out and be hungry enough to get the sweep. I say it all the time, good teams win series and great teams sweep. We went out and got it done. We had some rough innings here and there throughout the day, but ultimately, we were able to score runs when we needed to and win both games."
 
The Generals scored 50 runs across all three games on Thursday and Friday.
 
GAME ONE | LSUA 13, XULA 9
Peyton Marcantel launched a go-ahead two-run homerun in the bottom of a rain-soaked sixth inning to put LSUA ahead 10-9. His homerun was part of a six-run inning.
 
Carter Fabre (2-1) earned the win in relief in game one. He tossed 1.1 innings of scoreless relief. He struck out one.
 
Marcantel notched a pair of hits and drove in six runs. Luke Benoit recorded a pair of hits, two runs batted in, and he scored twice. Blaise Foote went 1-for-3 with 2 RBI.
 
The Gold Rush struck first. A sacrifice fly in the first gave XULA a 1-0 lead. A two-run homerun in the second extended their lead to three.
 
Julian Kliebert drew a bases loaded walk, one of three he worked in the game, in the Generals' half of the second for LSUA's first run. A solo homerun from the Gold Rush in the top of third, however, brought their lead back to three.
 
In the fourth inning, the Purple and Gold brought around six runs. An RBI single from Benoit was followed by a two-run double from Foote. After the Generals loaded the bases, Marcantel cleared them with a triple to center field for a 7-4 lead.
 
Xavier (La.) tied the game at 7-7 in the fifth inning. Another solo homerun in the sixth put XULA ahead 8-7. They took a two-run lead on a single down the left field line.
 
Dezmon Dugas reached based with one out in the sixth inning on a hit by pitch. Landon Langley, the tying run, then reached on a walk. Marcantel crushed an offering down the left field line for a three-run homerun and a 10-9 lead.
 
An infield single from Benoit later in the inning drove in Kliebert. Zach Mengarelli then scored on a wild pitch. A bases loaded walk to Dugas three batters later pushed LSUA's lead to 13-9.
 
Fabre recorded a pop out and a fly out on the first two hitters in the bottom of the seventh. After a single, he struck out the final hitter swinging and claimed the win.
 
GAME TWO | LSUA 14, XULA 1 (7 Innings)
LSUA put up crooked numbers in three separate innings in the final game of the series.
 
William Vice (1-1) tossed five innings of shutout baseball and struck out seven. James Gay tossed two innings of relief and allowed one unearned run.
 
Benoit went 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI and three runs scored. Jaxon Bernard recorded a pair of hits and drove in five runs. Colin Ardoin and Kliebert each scored three times.
 
Bernard's first RBI came in the bottom of the first on a sacrifice bunt. He brought Benoit in from third.
 
In the second inning, Ardoin came around to score on a wild pitch. Later in the inning, Langley worked his way into a rundown between first and second, while Klibert scampered home for a 3-0 lead.
 
Ardoin took a bases loaded hit by pitch in the fifth inning to open the Generals' scoring. A single from Kliebert brought around Shae Thibodeaux. Back-to-back walks from Benoit and Langley plated an additional two runs. Bernard drove in another run on a fielder's choice, before a wild pitch allowed Benoit to score for a 9-0 lead.
 
A one-out single from Benoit in the sixth scored Ardoin. Three batters, and a pitching change later, Bernard roped a double down the left field line to drive in three more runs. The final run of the inning came when a fielding error allowed Tinnerello to reach and Bernard to score.
 
XULA scored their only run on a fielder's choice in the seventh before Gay picked up a swinging strikeout to end the game and complete the sweep.
 
UP NEXT
The Generals travel to New Orleans for a non-conference meeting with Southern University at New Orleans on Tuesday, November 18.