HAMMOND, La. – The McNeese State baseball team fought back from a two-run deficit to tie the game in the series opening contest against Southeastern Louisiana but were unable to withstand a 10^th inning walk-off home run that propelled the Lions to a 4-2 victory over the Cowboys Friday night at Pat Kenelly Diamond.

The two teams are scheduled to meet again on Saturday with first pitch set for a 2 o'clock start. Fans can get up-to-the-minute news as well as time changes for the weekend series by liking McNeese Sports on Facebook and by following @McNeeseBaseball on Twitter.

With the loss, McNeese drops to 22-16 on the season and 12-7 in league play while Southeastern Louisiana took sole possession of first place with a 28-11 record and a 13-4 mark in conference action.

Fans that were able to attend the game were surprised with a special treat from the team. The Cowboys donned a new uniform combo comprised of powder blue tops and pants along with McNeese blue and gold trim. The uniforms strike a resemblance to those that were won by the Milwaukee Brewers during the late 1970's and early 1980's.

Following a two-run outing in the first inning by the Lions, McNeese grinded its way back to tie the ballgame at 2-2 in the top of the sixth inning following RBI hits from right fielder James Cantu and designated hitter Billy Sommers.

Cantu sent a two-out double into left field that abled centerfielder Andrew Guillotte to slide in and cut the lead to a 2-1 ballgame.

A clutch performance at the plate from Billy Sommers on the next play in the frame altered the Southeastern Louisiana lead as he launched a single into shallow right field and knocked in the tying run of the ballgame as the Pokes knotted the game up a 2-2.

Starting pitcher Kaleb Fontenot delivered another quality outing for the Cowboys with only two runs given up on seven hits through 7.2 innings of work. The quality start was Fontenot's seventh on the year and was also the ninth time this season that he has struck out five or more batters in a game.

Despite excellent relief work in the final 2.1 innings of the game, Cole Prejean (1-2) was charged with the loss. Prejean gave up the last two runs of the contest off of two hits and a walk. He fanned the first six batters that he faced in the game.

The two squads entered extra innings and it was in the bottom of the 10^th inning that SLU's Julian Service sent his first homer of the season sailing over the left field wall and earned the walk-off win for the Lions.

The Cowboys recorded six hits in the ballgame and were led by Sommers who batted 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. Cantu went 1-for-4 in the contest with an RBI and also recorded his seventh double on the season while second baseman Joe Provenzano extended his reached-base streak to 14 games.

Guillotte inched closer to the McNeese baseball all-time stolen bases record as she captured his 72 career swipe during the game. He is now six away from tying Jace Peterson for the record mark.
 
Southeastern La. 4, McNeese 2 (Apr 17, 2015 at Hammond, La.)
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McNeese............. 000 002 000 0 -  2  6  0      (22-16, 12-7 SLC)
Southeastern La..... 200 000 000 2 -  4  9  1      (28-11, 12-4 SLC)
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Pitchers: McNeese - Fontenot, Kaleb; Prejean, Cole(8) and Toole, Cameron. Southeastern La. -
Scioneaux, Tate; Granier, Kade(8); Carlini, Domenick(10) and Eades, Chris.
Win-Carlini, Domenick(1-0)  Loss-Prejean, Cole(1-2)  T-2:47  A-1004
HR SLU - Service, Julian; Midyett, Daniel.
Weather: 80 Mostly Cloudy, N 4 mph
Scioneaux, T faced 1 batter in the 8th.