ABILENE – Making his first start in nearly a year and just his second appearance since being activated last week, Austin Nelson returned to the lineup with a flair as the sophomore belted his second-career home run to help guide McNeese to a 7-4 win over Abilene Christian on Friday night in the first of a three-game Southland Conference series.
 
In addition to Nelson's stick, center fielder Robbie Podorsky continued his tear at the top of the lineup with a 3-for-4 game at the plate and being one of four Cowboy sluggers with multiple hits in a 13-hit team outing. Podorsky is now 6-for-7 from the plate in the last two games.
 
"When Robbie is on base, it makes our lineup a lot more dangerous," said head coach Justin Hill.
 
Podorsky seemed to set the tone early for the Cowboys with a lead-off single in the top of the first then scored on a one-out, Rickey Ramirez Jr. double to put McNeese up 1-0. Joe Provenzano followed with a two-out single to right field to score Ramirez and give the Cowboys a 2-0 quick lead.
 
"He (Podorsky) does a lot of things to take the pressure off of our hitters," said Hill.
 
The victory improved the Cowboys to 21-9 overall, the fourth-most wins through 30 games in school history, as McNeese holds onto sole possession of second place in the league standings at 11-2.
 
Austin Sanders (3-2) picked up the win after allowing two earned runs on six hits with five strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings. The bullpen – Grant Anderson and Collin Kober – threw the final 2 1/3 innings without allowing a run or hit and striking out three batters.
 
"Sanders was really good tonight," said Hill. "He pitched deep in the game and was a couple of plays away from possibly throwing a complete game."
 
Hill lifted Sanders with two outs in the seventh inning after an error by Provenzano at second base extended the Wildcat at-bat. Anderson came in and got the next batter to foul out down the right field side and sat the ACU batters down in order in the eighth inning before giving way to Kober.
 
Kober notched his fifth save of the year with a perfect ninth inning of work, striking out two of the three batters he faced. It's his third save in his last five appearances.
 
McNeese led 2-0 after one inning and added another in the second when Nelson singled to lead off the frame and later scored on a sacrifice fly to right field by Will Fox to make it 3-0.
 
Nelson's next at-bat was a homer down the left field line to put the Cowboys up 4-0 in the top of the fourth.
 
"That was a great moment for Nelly and a big hit in the game," said Hill. "With Fis (Nate Fisbeck) out, we're going to have to have some other guys step up."
 
A big hit indeed as ACU scored three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to cut the Cowboys' lead to 4-3. The big hit was a one-out, two-run double by second baseman Aaron Draper to pull the Wildcats to within one run.
 
After a scoreless fifth, McNeese put together a nice two-out rally in the sixth that saw Podorsky bunt his way on, steal second, then score off a Dustin Duhon single up the middle to make it 5-3. Ramirez followed with a double to score Duhon and put the Cowboys up 6-3 through six innings.
 
Both teams added a run in the seventh, McNeese's coming off the bat of Shane Selman who hit his seventh home run of the season with a one-out, solo shot over the left field wall.
 
Ramirez, Provenzano and Nelson each had two hits on the night.
 
ACU (9-17, 1-12 SLC) lost for the 10^th consecutive time and fourth straight time to the Cowboys. Starting pitcher Nick Skeffington (1-2) took the loss after throwing four innings and giving up four runs on eight hits.