It was a fun first half of the weekend in Lake Charles as the Gators swept the Brazos Valley Bombers at home. Both games were a ended in a one run difference, and the Gators came out on top in both of them. With timely hitting, and solid starting pitching in both games, Lake Charles was able to get their third win in a row before going on the road.
Game 1 of the two game series was on Thursday, June 20. The Bombers threw their Ace, Bryson Walker, and he did exactly what he was supposed to do. The LHP out of The University of Houston threw 8 innings, gave up 4 hits, 1 earned run, allowed 2 walks, and sat down 10 on strikes. Starting for the Gators was Parker Morgan who also had a commanding outing. Morgan only threw 4 innings, gave up 1 hit, allowed 0 runs, walked one, and struck out 4. Offensively for the Bombers they only had two hits. They struck out a total of 10 times and walked 8 times. They left 7 runners stranded in the span of nine innings. For Lake Charles they only had 4 hits and 1 run going into the 9th inning. They scored 4 unanswered runs, and Jake Smith hit his second walkoff of the season as Lane Lusk came around to score the winning run. Cayden Maxwell got the loss on the mound for the Bombers while Carter Sutton got the win on the bump for the Gators.
Game 2 was just as exciting as game 1. On Friday, June 21, The Gators started a completely new lineup. Only 2 players that started in game 1, were starters in game 2. The offense for Lake Charles had just 7 hits as they struggled to put the barrel on the ball until the 5th inning. Owen Galt had 3 of the 7 hits, and he scored a the first run of the game in the 3rd inning. Galt also made some ridiculous plays at shortstop and he turned a couple of double plays with second basemen, Joshua Vaughn. It was the top of the 9th inning and Parker Primeaux took over on the mound. The score was 5-4 and Primeaux started the inning off by flying out Cam Henson to right field. He walked batters and flew out one. Theres now two outs and the tying run at second base. A single to right field and they send the runner from second home, but Carson Hepworth showed off his cannon to hose the runner coming home for the 3rd out of the inning. Gators pull this one off 5-4 and get their third win in a row.
Lake Charles will go on the road to take on Brazos Valley for the second half of the weekend. They return back home to Joe Miller Ballpark on Tuesday to take on the Acadiana Cane Cutters for the Battle of the 337.