The New Orleans Privateers defeated the McNeese Cowboys 5-2 on Apr. 3 at Maestri Field, evening up their baseball series behind strong pitching and early offense.
The game saw William Andrade pitch six innings for the Privateers, allowing two runs on five hits with four strikeouts to secure his second win of the season. Luke Lycette recorded his third save by closing out the final two innings, working around two hits and striking out two batters.
The Privateers took an early lead by scoring four runs in the first three innings against Cowboys starter Paul Coppinger, who threw 31 pitches in just the first inning. RBI doubles from Kruise Newman and Dathan Cummings helped New Orleans respond after McNeese scored first on a hit-by-pitch with bases loaded. Owen Smith added a run-scoring single in the second inning, while Kareh Valentin delivered a two-out RBI single in the third to make it 4-1.
McNeese managed seven hits from seven different players but could not overcome New Orleans’ lead. Daniel Pinkerton drove in Marcus Heusohn for another Cowboy run before Andrade finished his outing by inducing ground outs. Skylar Jones pitched out of a jam in relief before Lycette closed out the game.
Eli Tidwell went 2-for-4 with two runs scored for New Orleans, giving him five total hits over the weekend. Valentin also had a pair of hits and an RBI, while Smith drove in two runs and Cummings stole his first base of the season.
The series is set to conclude Saturday morning with an 11 a.m. first pitch.
