BATON ROUGE — The University of New Orleans pounded out 23 hits in a 24-9 win over Jackson State eliminating the Tigers from the Baton Rouge Regional.
Every UNO starter had a hit in the game and four starters produced three or more hits. Privateer shortstop Sammy Cooper produced five RBI, scored four runs and finished the game 3-for-4. Steve Rowell also finished with a 3-for-4 effort and belted his seventh home run of the season.
“We didn?t start off with a whole lot of good at bats in the first couple of innings,” said UNO head coach Randy Bush. “I wasn?t real pleased. We had a lot of pop-ups and weak fly balls. But the guys really got after it after that and did what they had to do. Jackson State really swings the bat well. They?re tough to put away, so we had to keep swinging the bat.”
Jackson State was able to produce nine runs on 13 hits, but four errors cost the Tigers. Only 13 of the 24 UNO runs were charged as earned runs. Catcher D.J. Jones, who belted his sixth and seventh home runs of the year, provided the offensive highlight for Jackson State.
UNO will play the third game on Saturday against the loser of the LSU and ULM game scheduled for 3:07 p.m. Saturday afternoon.