LAKE CHARLES – McNeese Baseball will look to keep its current hot streak going when it hosts in-state Southland Conference rival Northwestern State in a three-game series beginning Friday at 6 p.m. at Joe Miller Ballpark.
The game will be televised live on CST.
The series will continue with a 3 p.m. start on Saturday while the finale will begin at 1 on Sunday.
WHAT'S AT STAKE:
McNeese is in a tie for second place in the conference standings at 12-6 while Northwestern State is 8-7 and in seventh place.
The Cowboys are tied with Southeastern Louisiana in the standings, both trailing Sam Houston State by two-and-a-half games. McNeese will host the Bearkats next weekend.
PITCHING ROTATION:
McNeese will throw its regular starters on Friday and Saturday, those being
Grant Anderson (3-3, 3.21 ERA) and
Bryan King (3-2, 3.80) with Sunday's starter yet to be decided on. NSU will counter with Ridge Heisler (4-2, 2.77) on Friday, Jerry Maddox (3-3, 2.43) on Saturday, and Nathan Jones (2-3, 3.25) on Sunday.
STREAKING:
McNeese will carry a four-game winning streak into this weekend's series, matching its second-longest streak of the season.
The offense has been the No. 1 reason for the streak as the Cowboys are hitting .324 as a team in the last four games while averaging 11 hits and eight runs per contest.
Lead-off batter and third baseman Carson Maxwell has been a key component of the offensively explosiveness as of late as he's hitting .529 in the last four games, has scored six runs and has been on base 58 percent of the time. Not to mention he's slugged two home runs and has a double.
MILESTONE IN SIGHT:
McNeese head coach
Justin Hill is three wins away from capturing his 150
th career victory as a head coach, all at McNeese.
Hill is currently the fourth-winningest coach in school history with a record of 147-118 as he passed Triny Rivera following the team's 3-2 win against Abilene Christian back on April 6.
Hubert Boales sits ahead of Hill with 190 all-time wins.
HILL-NSU CONNECTION:
Coach Hill and Northwestern State have a history together.
Hill was a volunteer assistant for the Demons for the 2004 and 2005 seasons under then-head coach Mitch Gaspard.
He helped coach the Demons to the 2005 conference championship with a 41-20 record and an appearance in the NCAA Regionals in Baton Rouge.
He also coached current Demons' head coach, Bobby Barbier, on those 2004 and 2005 teams.
