ARLINGTON, TX – McNeese State struck back here Saturday with a 2-1 10 inning victory over UT Arlington.

    The game, a Southland Conference outing, completed the series between the two teams and averted a sweep by the Mavericks who had won the first two outings.

    A sacrifice fly by Tony Coniglio drove in Sam Merrill with the winning run. Jordan LeGros, who had relieved starter Tommy Luce in the ninth inning, then put the Mavericks down on three straight strikeouts after a leadoff single in the bottom of the 10th.

    LeGros got the win as he pitched the final 1.2 innings, giving up but one hit while striking out four.  Luce had hurled 8.1 innings of seven hit, one run ball and he struckout seven.

    The victory sends McNeese’s record on the season to 15-16 and its conference mark to 6-12.  UTA goes to 18-16 overall and to 11-7 in league play.

    The win also lifted LeGros’ record to 2-1.  The loser was Adam Boydston, the second UTA pitcher,and he is now 0-2.

    UTA had opened the scoring in the sixth inning, getting one run on one hit.  A single by Ryan Davis plated the run.

    The Cowboys came back to tie the contest with a run in the top of the ninth.  Taylor Freeman led off the inning with a single and after two were out, Matt Fontenot singled with Josh Lebert, who had come on to run for Freeman, advancing to third.  Nick Eubanks then singled in Lebert.

    In the top of the 10th, Merrill led off with a single and went to second on Steven Irvine’s sacrifice bunt.  Shon Landry then singled Merrill to third and Coniglio came through with the sacrifice fly for the game’s winning run.

    The Cowboys had 11 hits in the game with Freeman and Fontenot getting three each and Eubanks two.

    McNeese will play five games in the coming week. The Cowboys will tackle Lamar in two non-conference games, playing in Beaumont on Tuesday and at Cowboy Diamond on Wednesday.  They will host Stephen F. Austin in a three game SLC series beginning Friday.