Cougars Come Away with 2 Wins on Day 1 of Louisiana Christian Classic
USF Louisiana Christian Classic day 1
The University of Saint Francis (Ind.) Cougars traveled to Pineville, Louisiana to face off against Louisiana Christian University and Southern University at New Orleans in the Louisiana Christian Classic.
The first game was a tough battle between the Cougars and the Wildcats of Louisiana Christian. The Wildcats jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. The Cougars continued to build innings but were not able to capitalize early on. Lukas North and Casey Henry were great out of the bullpen to help give their offense a chance. A sacrifice fly from Brenden Lytle got the Cougs on the board in the top of the 7th. Jayden Lepper and Eli Riley both brought runs across in the 8th to bring the score to 4-3. In the top of the ninth the Cougars rallied. Xavier Croxton drew a walk to bring in the tying run, and Sam Pesa took the lead with a single to left. After they went up by two, Ayden Lichtensteiger hit his first career homerun to increase the lead to 9-4. Graham Kelham came in and shut the door, game ended in favor of the Cougars, 9-4.
The second game was the Cougars against the Knights of Southern University at New Orleans. Luke Siren got the start in this one and went 5 innings with 8 strikeouts. He didn't give up a run and the Coug offense scratched 3 runs in the bottom of the third thanks to Ayden Lichtensteiger, Eli Riley, and Brenden Lytle all with rbis. The game stayed 3-0 until the 7th when they plated 2 more. Geoffrey Niedens was dominant out of the pen and held off the Knights offense attack. They ended up giving up 1 run in the 9th, but that was all they got as the Cougars finished on top 5-1.
The Cougars went 2-0 on the day and had many key contributors on the day. Ayden Lichtensteiger had 5 RBIs across both games to go along with his first career homerun. Sam Pesa was 3-6 on the day with 4 walks and 3 rbis as well. Luke Siren and Perry Stowe both had great starts on the mound, and the Cougar bullpen held up to give the offense a chance to go work.
The University of Saint Francis Cougars will wrap up the Louisiana Christian Classic Saturday February 17th with their first game against Southern University at New Orleans at 1:00 PM Est and follow that up with a 4:00 PM est game against Louisiana Christian. The Cougars look to stay hot and win two more games.
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