LAKE CHARLES – The McNeese State baseball team will head deep into the heart of Texas this weekend as the Cowboys travel to Abilene Christian for a three-game Southland Conference series set for a 6 p.m. start on Friday. The series will resume on Saturday at 2 o'clock and will conclude on Sunday at 1 o'clock.
Friday and Saturday's games may be heard on Cajun Radio-1470 AM in Lake Charles and online at CajunRadio.com. Sunday's broadcast has yet to be determined due to the possibility of the women's basketball team participation in the WBI Tournament. Stats will be available throughout the entire weekend and can be watched on McNeeseSports.com under the baseball schedule page.
Off to one of the best starts in recent program history, the Pokes (15-6, 5-1 SLC) are coming off a three-game sweep of Incarnate Word last weekend and are currently sitting one game out of first in the early Southland season. McNeese has scored eight victories in its last 10 contests and will enter the series with the Wildcats on a four-game winnings streak.
The Cowboys will mix up the pitching rotation this weekend, inserting junior
Ethan Stremmel for the Sunday afternoon game. Junior Kaleb Fontenot (3-1, 2.70 ERA) will take the bump on Friday night while sophomore
Trent Fontenot (2-1, 2.96 ERA) will draw the start for Saturday's contest.
Kaleb Fontenot turned in another quality start against Incarnate Word last weekend to help McNeese secure the first win of the series. He tossed seven innings against the Cardinals and allowed only one earned run to score on eight hits while he struck out six batters.
Trent Fontenot tossed five innings in his last outing and surrendered only one run against UIW on just three hits and fanned six batters in the process. Fontenot has limited the opposition to a .198 batting average that ranks one of the lowest in the conference.
Stremmel will enter the weekend rotation after helping the McNeese pitching staff during the mid-week. He worked five innings against A&M-Corpus Christi and prevented any runs from scoring and gave up only two hits and struck out six during the outing.
As a team, the Cowboys boast one of the top hitting percentages in the Southland Conference. Their .296 batting clip ranks second best in the league along with their 212 hits, 102 runs scored, 12 homers 26 stolen bases through 21 games. On the mound, McNeese has a 2.92 ERA, with nine saves, walking 63 and striking out 182 in 194.0 innings of work.
Senior outfielder
Andrew Guillotte leads the team with a .374 (34-for-91) average and has posted 12 multiple-hit games this season. He has recorded a team-high 34 hits and six doubles, two homers, 10 RBI and 11 stolen bases. Perhaps, one of the hottest bats in the Pokes' dugout belongs to senior
Lucas Quary. In his last nine at-bats, Quary has launched five home runs and drove in 12 runners in the process.
Abilene Christian (3-14, 2-4 SLC) is coming off of a mid-week split with Alabama A&M as well as a series loss to Southeastern Louisiana last weekend. The Wildcats have dropped their first two league series so far on the season. As a team, ACU has hit .226 on the year with 59 runs scored, 24 doubles, three homers, six stolen bases and 52 RBI in 17 games. On the mound, the Wildcats has a team ERA of 4.70, saving two games in 151.1 innings, walking 66 and striking out 131 batters.
Abilene Christian is led by Tyler Eager who has started in every game this season and has posted a .319 average along with 23 hits, six doubles and 12 RBI. Alex Copeland has a .309 clip along with 17 hits, five doubles, six RBI and four walks.
The two programs will clash for the first time in nearly 42 years. The last time the two teams met were in Abilene during the 1973 season. The Wildcats took two of three games from the Pokes.
