LAKE CHARLES – Senior Lucas Quary showcased one of the best performances of his career Saturday afternoon as the all-around athlete knocked in a run that would help launch a late-game collective effort from the McNeese State offense and also worked shutout innings on the mound to lead the Pokes to a series-clinching 6-3 victory over Stephen F. Austin at Cowboy Diamond.

Quary (2-0) picked up his second win in the last three games after having tossed 3.2 shutout innings and while also having prevented any SFA hits. Despite walking two batters late in the outing, Quary received help from the Cowboy bullpen to prevent a run from scoring and hanging on for the win.

With the victory, McNeese (27-20, 16-10 SLC) clinched a spot in the 2015 Southland Conference Baseball Tournament set for May 20-23 at Constellation Field in Sugar Land, Texas. For the first time since 2006, the Cowboys will finish the season having won every conference series at Cowboy Diamond.

The Pokes have captured 20 victories at home this season, the most within the confines oft heir home field since 2011. It was also the first time in over a decade that McNeese scored 20 or more home wins in a single year.

The Cowboys jumped out to an early two run lead in the first inning as junior Connor Crane launched his eighth homer of the season that scored senior Connor Lloyd, who had doubled the play before, to get ahead of the Jacks.

SFA responded with three runs through the next four innings to take a 3-2 lead.

At the plate, Quary was just as effective with a fifth-inning solo homer over the left field wall that knotted the ballgame up at three runs for each team. The tater was Quary's seventh this season.

From there it was all Cowboys as senior Andrew Guillotte stole second base and swiped third before a fielding error allowed him to scrape across the home dish for the go-ahead run. McNeese tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the final inning following RBI-doubles from Guillotte and sophomore Matt Gallier.

Senior Cory LaPeze picked up his fourth save of the season after entering the game with one out left and struck out the last batter to help propel his team into postseason play. Reliever Tyler Erickson took to the mound early in the inning and retired the first two batters.

Guillotte, a finalist for the Senior CLASS Award, turned in excellent performance with two hits, an RBI, a run scored and two stolen bases in the contest. He is now stands just two steals away from tying Cowboy alumni Jace Peterson for the McNeese all-time stolen bases record.

Lloyd (2-for-4, one run scored) and junior Lewis Guilbeau (2-for-3, one walk, one run scored) each collected multiple-hit performances while four total McNeese batters knocked in at least one run in the contest.

The Pokes will be back in action tomorrow as they look for the series sweep against Stephen F. Austin. First pitch for the series finale is set for a 1 o'clock start.

McNeese 6, Stephen F. Austin 3 (May 02, 2015 at Lake Charles, La.)
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Stephen F. Austin... 010 110 000  -  3  5  1      (15-32, 9-16)
McNeese............. 200 010 12X  -  6 10  1      (27-20, 16-10)
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Pitchers: Stephen F. Austin - Mangham, Dillon; Page, Grant(8); Day, Patrick(8); Stone, Travis(8)
and Holsomback, Holden. McNeese - Kingsley, Bryce; Quary, Lucas(5); Erickson, Tyler(9);
LaPeze, Cory(9) and Toole, Cameron.
Win-Quary, Lucas(2-0)  Save-LaPeze, Cory(4)  Loss-Mangham, Dillon(3-8)  T-2:45  A-757
HR MCN - Crane, Connor; Quary, Lucas.
Weather: 81; Mostly Cloudy; SW 9 MPH
Quary, L. faced 2 batters in the 9th.