LAKE CHARLES – McNeese baseball (12-3, 4-2 SLC) returns home to Joe Miller Ballpark for a weekend series against the reigning regular season Southland champion Lamar (14-5, 2-4 SLC) starting Friday night at 6 p.m. in the Battle of the Border. It marks a rematch of the 2024 Southland Tournament Semifinals in which the Cowboys proceeded to win the second game forced by Lamar to advance to the SLC Championship Game.
 
The series will continue Saturday at 2 p.m. followed by the series finale Sunday evening at 4 p.m. All three games are slated to be streamed on ESPN+ with live stats available.
 
McNeese is on a two-game win streak, defeating Houston Christian 6-4 on Sunday and UL-Lafayette Wednesday night 4-2 on the road. It marks the first time the Cowboys have completed a season sweep over the Ragin' Cajuns since the 2003 season. 
 
Lamar carries in a four-game win streak into the weekend, defeating Stephen F. Austin twice and taking both midweek games over New Mexico State at home.
 
Senior Simon Larranaga and sophomore Mack Brousseau look to extend both their team-leading six game hitting streaks against the Cardinals. The only other players to reach a six-game hitting streak this season are graduate student Davis Meche and junior Larry Edwards Jr.
 
The Cowboys' pitching staff has seen 15 different pitchers take the mound this season with senior Sergio Lopez leading the way with a 3-0 record, three saves, and 0.51 ERA. Left-handed pitcher Alexis Gravel, a senior, is scheduled to make the start for McNeese Friday night, going up against right-handed Riley Hunsaker.
 
Starting off the season 12-3 is the best start under head coach Justin Hill and the best start for the program since 2000 when the team kicked off the campaign at 13-3. Coach Hill's former best start was 12-4 in 2017.
 
Proceeding the weekend will be a two-game midweek against Mississippi Valley State on Tuesday at 6 p.m. and Wednesday at 1 p.m.
 
Series Preview
• McNeese and Lamar first met in 1954 with the Cardinals holding the 125-86-2 all-time advantage.
• The squads met in the 2024 SLC Semifinals when the Cardinals forced a second game which was won by the Cowboys to advance to the title game.
• In the prior 10 meetings, the teams are an even 5-5.
• McNeese took the 2024 series 2-1 the last time the squads played at home.
• Coach Hill and Coach Davis have met 18 times at the helm, splitting the meetings 9-9.
 
McNeese Notes
• Coach Hill is off to his best start at the helm with an 12-3 start and the Cowboys' best start since 2000 when the program started 13-3.
• McNeese defeated ULL on the road for the first time since 2019 and completed the season sweep for the first time since 2003.
• The Cowboys were ranked 24th in the 11Point7 College Baseball Week 3 Power Rankings. UTRGV and Southeastern are currently ranked 19th and 24th respectively.
• McNeese tied a program record for runs scored in an inning with its 12-run bottom of the sixth against Dillard that has remain unmatched since the Cowboys did so against Texas State in 1999.
• Seth Fontenot went 2-for-3 with two RBI singles and a walk in his first start.
• Larry Edwards Jr. leads the team with a .367 average on the season with Easton Dowell (.340) and Davis Meche (.317) also hitting over .300.
• McNeese has claimed two shutouts on the season with the first being a 1-0 win over Oakland (Game 1) before defeating UL-Lafayette 3-0 at home last Tuesday.
• The Pokes are 23rd in the nation in ERA at 3.42 and second in the Southland. The squad's 3.87 strikeout-to-walk ratio is ranked seventh in the nation and atop the SLC.
• McNeese is tied 20th in the nation with two shutouts. 
• Sergio Lopez sits sixth the nation in WHIP at 0.57 on the season.
• McNeese is ranked 53rd in the nation with five triples.
• The third inning has been critical for McNeese as they are undefeated when leading after the third and have lost all three games when trailing after the third.
• By sweeping Nicholls 3-0, it marks the first time since 2021 the Cowboys have opened conference with a series sweep when they swept Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
• McNeese swept Oakland 3-0 in the teams' first ever meeting.
• Alexis Gravel was named the Week 2 SLC Pitcher of the Week after his 12 strikeout performance against Oakland in the series opener.
• McNeese had back-to-back walk-off victories against Oakland with Mack Brousseau hitting walk-off solo home run Saturday and Matt Stancliff hitting a walk-off RBI single with the bases loaded Sunday.
• McNeese's series wins over Oakland and Wichita State are the first in program history for each respective school.
 
McNeese Notes (cont.)
• The Cowboys return 18 members from the 2024 roster and added 23 over the offseason headed into 2025.
• Coach Hill guided the Pokes to a 32-27 record on the 2024 season to mark his ninth season of earning 30+ wins in a season.
• Conner Westenburg was named to the Southland Preseason All-Conference First Team.
• Simon Larranaga earned recognition on the SLC Preseason All-Conference Second Team.
• Peyton McLemore was added to the coaching staff as an assistant coach/pitching coordinator while Peyton LeJeune also joined as a Student Assistant Coach.
 
Scouting the Opponent
• Lamar is 3-1 over weekend series, defeating CSU-Bakersfield (2-1), UAlbany (3-0), and SFA (2-1), only falling to UTRGV (0-3).
• Lamar and McNeese have faced one common opponent with the Cardinals getting a 15-2, 8 Inn. win over Oakland.
• Heladio Moreno, Damian Ruiz, and Tab Tracy each own averages over .400 at .419, .414, and .406 respectively.
• Lamar owns the third-most hit in the nations at 209, only two shy of UTSA, the national leader.
• Lamar's ERA is 31st in the nation at 3.54.
 
Last Time Out
• McNeese defeated ULL on the road for the first time since 2019 and completed the season sweep for the first time since 2003.
• The Cowboys defeated the Ragin' Cajuns 4-2 on the road.
• McNeese extended its scoring streak to 43 consecutive games.
• Seth Fontenot went 2-for-3 with two RBI singles and a walk in his first start.
• McNeese lost its first series of the season to HCU 2-1, falling Friday (2-6) and Saturday (8-15) before claiming the series finale (6-4).
• Davis Meche batted .400 over the weekend with four hits and two walks.
• Sergio Lopez closed out the final 5.2 innings of Sunday's game for his third victory of the season.
• Alexis Gravel, Cooper Golden, and Jake Blackwell all made a start on the weekend.
• Larry Edwards Jr. stole half the team's bases over the weekend with two on three attempts.
• Saturday's eight runs are the fourth most scored by the Pokes this season.