LAKE CHARLES – The McNeese baseball team will take its undefeated record to the desert this weekend to battle last season's College World Series runner-up as the Cowboys battle No. 7 Arizona in a four-game series.
The series will begin Thursday at 7 p.m. (CST) followed by a Friday night contest set for 7 p.m. (CST). Saturday's game is set for a 2 p.m. (CST) first pitch followed by the series final on Sunday at 1 p.m. (CST).
Fans can follow the game via live stats and video by logging on to McNeeseSports.com and clicking on the links under the baseball schedule page.
McNeese (4-0) enters the series after an offensive explosion during the mid-week with a 32-4 win over in-state foe ULM Tuesday night. The Cowboys broke five team school records and one individual mark including single game records 32 runs scored on 29 hits. Other records broken in the game included team game records of hits (29), RBIs (28) and total bases (40).
Individually, Ricky Ramirez set a new school record by scoring six runs in the game. That tied as the most scored by a player in a single game in the NCAA this season and is tied for most in a game by a Southland Conference player.
McNeese enters the series with the best batting average in the league with a combined .369 clip through four games. Six Cowboys have a batting average of .300 or better with sophomore
Shane Selman pacing the field with a .538 average along with
Ricky Ramirez, Jr. (.500),
Nate Fisbeck (.438),
Joe Provenzano (.417),
Dustin Duhon (.357) and
Will Fox (.333)
The Pokes rank second in the nation in runs per game with 14.8 and third with a +11.5 scoring margin.
The McNeese pitching staff has hurled a 2.75 ERA so far this season. The Pokes have allowed only 11 earned runs off of 31 hits and 15 walks while striking out 33 batters.
Expected to start on the mound for the Cowboys are LHP
Bryan King (1-0, 2.25 ERA) on Thursday, RHP
Rhett Deaton (0-0, 0.00 ERA) on Friday and LHP
Austin Sanders (1-0, 5.06 ERA) on Saturday. Sunday's starter has yet to be announced.
Seventh-ranked Arizona (4-0) returns several players from last year's team that went 49-24 and appeared in the College World Series Finals. Senior JC Cloney, juniors Cameron Ming and Rio Gomez and sophomore Cody Deason highlight the returning pitchers. Seniors Louis Boyd and Kyle Lewis, juniors JJ Matijevic and Jared Oliva and sophomores Cesar Salazar and Alfonso Rivas highlight the returning position players.
The Wildcats swept Eastern Kentucky in a four-game series to open the season last weekend at home. Arizona is currently in the middle of a nine-game homestand where it holds a six-game winning streak at Hi Corbett Field.
Arizona will start Cloney on Thursday with the rest of the rotation to be determined this weekend.
The Pokes will meet Arizona for the first time in school history but are 5-1 all-time against Pac-12 programs, including a 3-1 mark under head coach
Justin Hill. The last program from the league to face McNeese was Washington State in 2016 as the Cowboys took three of four from the Cougars in Pullman.
