SUGAR LAND, Texas – The McNeese baseball team may not have gotten the results it was looking for in the short-term but the Cowboys, who were eliminated by Southeastern Louisiana, 4-1, in the Southland Conference Tournament baseball semi-finals, left the scene having set the bar high for years to come on standards of a winning program after another historic season on the diamond.
 
The 2016 McNeese team including eight outstanding seniors left Constellation Field having made a huge impact on one of the most respectable collegiate baseball programs in Louisiana after having won 116 games during their times in Lake Charles. The seniors also led their teams to semi-finals of the SLC Tournament twice in their four years, five victories over ranked opponents and three consecutive seasons of 30 or more wins.
 
"The thing is that this team fought," said head coach Justin Hill. "I told our players that it is never enough. Whether you get a chance to win a championship and go to a regional then you want to win that. At one point in this game, I looked up and realized that our team was playing for the opportunity to be in the championship game. That says something about us. We are in the fight and we are in this and that really tells you a lot about our kids."
 
McNeese finished the 2016 season having accomplished some great things including a 31-25 overall record and a 15-15 mark in league play. The Cowboys placed four on the all-league teams and recorded 13 victories over Top-100 RPI programs.
 
"Our seniors are examples of where we are trying to go and what we want to do with our program. I was proud of them and how they fought," said Hill.
 
Southeastern Louisiana (39-18) advanced to the championship game after limiting the Cowboys to just two hits in the contest while cranking out eight. McNeese was led by sophomore Joe Provenzano and junior Will Fox who each hit.
 
The Lions got things started with runs in the first two innings of the contest to take a 2-0 lead over the Pokes.
 
The Cowboys had a chance to cut into the lead with a pair of runners on the corners but were unable to get any offense going, stranding them at their bases. McNeese and SLU each left four runners on base during the game.
 
The Pokes cut the lead in half in the seventh inning of the ballgame as Provenzano, who tripled with two-outs earlier in the frame, reached home on a wild pitch making the score 2-1.
 
However, Southeastern struck back in the bottom of the inning with a pair of runs to extend its lead to a 4-2 score.
 
Lions starting pitcher Domenick Carlini (7-2) did the most damage in the contest with 6.2 frames tossed along with one run scored on one hit and three strikeouts Carlini had a no-hitter going until Provenzano's triple in the seventh broke the streak.
 
Freshman Bryan King (6-4) took the loss for McNeese despite working a strong 6.2 innings against the offensive-savvy Lions as he struck out seven batters and allowed four runs on seven hits. It was the third time this season that King had struck out seven batters, a career-high.
 
"I was really proud of what Bryan King did during the game," said Hill. "He had alot traffic during the early going and for him to keep those innings as small as he did I thought he did a great job. I thought our bullpen did a good job as well. "
 
Reliever Trent Fontenot tossed the final 1.1 frames and surrendered no runs and just one hit along with three strikeouts.
 
Southeastern La. 4, McNeese 1 (May 28, 2016 at Sugar Land, Texas)
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McNeese............. 000 000 100  -  1  2  0      (31-25)
Southeastern La..... 110 000 20X  -  4  8  1      (39-18)
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Pitchers: McNeese - King, Bryan; Fontenot, Trent(7) and Toole, Cameron; Duhon, Dustin.
Southeastern La. - Carlini, Domenick; Green, Josh(7) and Roberson, Sam.
Win-Carlini, Domenick(7-2)  Save-Green, Josh(3)  Loss-King, Bryan(6-4)  T-2:26  A-0
HR SLU - Roberson, Sam (1).
Weather: 75 deg, sunny, S 4-6 mph