LAKE CHARLES – The McNeese State baseball team will make the trip into Demon Land this weekend as the Cowboys go to battle against Southland Conference foe Northwestern State in a three-game league weekend series at Brown-Stroud Field in Natchitoches.
The weekend is slated to kick off at 6:30 p.m. Friday night followed by a 2 o'clock start on Saturday and a 1 o'clock first pitch on Sunday.
McNeese (16-9, 6-3 SLC) will look to get back on track in Natchitoches after dropping last weekend's series to Abilene Christian and a mid-week contest with Louisiana-Lafayette on Tuesday. The Pokes currently sit third in the SLC Standings.
The Cowboys have faced Northwestern State 203 times with McNeese holding a 111-90-2 advantage in the all-time series. The two teams met last season in Lake Charles with the Demons taking two of three conference contests.
A trio of right-handers will take the mound for the Pokes over the weekend. Kaleb Fontenot will draw the start on the mound for Friday's contest while
Trent Fontenot will take the bump in game two.
Ethan Stremmel will start on the mound in the series finale on Sunday.
Kaleb Fontenot (3-2, 2.94 ERA) has started six games this season and has given up only 11 earned runs off of 32 hits and 11 walks through 33.2 innings of work. He has fanned a team-high 36 batters along the way.
Trent Fontenot (3-1, 2.67 ERA) holds the lowest earned run average among the starting trio through six starts. He has surrendered just nine earned runs on 21 hits and 12 walks through 30.1 innings of work.
Stremmel (3-2, 3.94 ERA) has made seven appearances on the year along with five starts for the Cowboys. He has worked 29.2 innings and given up 13 runs off of 31 hits and four walks and has struck out 27 batters through 29.2 innings.
As a team, the Cowboys are hitting a .287 clip that ranks third in the conference, with 112 runs scored, 13 homers, and 27 stolen bases through 25 games. On the mound, McNeese has a 3.09 ERA, with 10 saves, walking 72 and striking out 210 batters in 230.0 frames of work, posting the second best fielding percentage in the league (.976).
Senior outfielder
Andrew Guillotte leads the team with a .358 (39-for-109) average and has posted 14 multiple hit games along with 39 total hits, seven doubles, two homers, 10 RBIs and 11 stolen bases.
Connor Lloyd is second on the team hitting .341 and has recorded 30 hits, two doubles and 12 RBIs.
Lucas Quary leads the team in home runs with five while
Connor Crane has posted a league-high 10 doubles.
Northwestern State (14-10, 6-2 SLC) enters the series on a three-game winning streak and has captured two out of the three SLC series so far this season. The Demons swept Lamar and took two of three from Sam Houston State. Last weekend's series against Stephen F. Austin was split and did not finish due to inclement weather.
The Demons have won seven out of their last 10 games including a mid-week sweep over Mississippi Valley State in a two-game series.
Northwestern State is hitting .257 as a team with Chase Daughdrill leading the offense with a .356 batting average and leads the squad with a .533 slugging percentage and .449 on-base percentage. Cort Brinson is second on the team with a .295 clip.
The Demons will start Adam Oller (3-1, 1.85 ERA) in the weekend opener. Oller has tossed two complete games this year, including a shutout against Sam Houston State on March 14. He has allowed only nine earned runs through 43.2 innings of work.
Adam's brother, Josh Oller (5-0, 4.17 ERA) will take the bump Saturday while Jeffrey Stovall (3-2, 4.02 ERA) is projected to start on Sunday.
The weekend series can be hear on Cajun Radio 1470-AM in Lake Charles and online at CajunRadio.com. Fans can access "Live Stats" by logging on to the baseball schedule page on McNeeseSports.com. Live video will be available for a fee this weekend and fans can watch by clicking on the "Live Video" link on the baseball schedule page.
