BATON ROUGE — With a 10-4 victory over New Orleans, Louisiana-Monroe advances to face LSU in a rematch Sunday at 1 p.m. to determine the regional championship.
Louisiana-Monroe will have to beat LSU twice in order to win the tournament and advance to NCAA Super Regional play next weekend.
Louisiana-Monroe head coach Smoke Laval was pleased with his team’s performance.
“It was a total team effort. They showed a lot of character to come back and refocus and know it’s just a game. I tip my hat to this ball club,” said Laval.
Louisiana -Monroe pitcher Kevin Orga provided a solid performance for the Indians. He pitched nine innings, giving up seven hits, four runs and one walk while striking out 11.
Louisiana-Monroe took their first lead in the fifth inning when Ted White hit a two-run blast giving Louisiana-Monroe a 3-1 advantage.
UNO fought back quickly in the bottom of the fifth. Sammy Cooper hit a three-run homer putting the Privateers on top 4-3.
Louisiana-Monroe regained the lead with a three-run rally in the sixth. Shane Webb singled in Scott Cadwallader for their first run. After Joe Jensen reached base, Toby Childers tripled scoring both Webb and Jensen. Louisiana-Monroe led 6-4.
Louisiana-Monroe struck again in the top of the eighth with two more runs. White singled in Childers and Matt Benson giving Louisiana-Monroe a comfortable lead at 8-4.
Jesse Hoorelbeke iced the game with his deep two-run home run in the top of the ninth.