LAKE CHARLES – There's no arguing McNeese second baseman Joe Provenzano has had a historic and memorable career for the Cowboys.
 
The senior from Downers Grove, Illinois was named a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American and the Southland Conference Freshman of the Year in 2015; he's a two-time first team All-SLC second baseman; a two-time SLC All-Academic recipient; was named last year's Southland Conference Baseball Student-Athlete of the Year; and became just the fourth player in program history last year when he was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America team.
 
Entering the 2018 season, his final in the blue and gold, Provenzano was knocking on the door of several career records including most hits, total bases, at bats, and runs scored.
 
Provenzano got out to a quick start in the season, hitting above .300 through the first 13 games, but then he fell into a slump and the usually reliable hitter collected just eight hits over the next 16 games and saw his average slump to a season-low of .218.
 
Suddenly a two-hit game against Abilene Christian on April 6 got the juices flowing again and from that point, Provenzano has taken off from the plate, recording 25 hits in 15 games since while hitting .424 during that span.
 
He's seen his average rise from the low of .218 to a team-leading .300 average. And in those last 15 games, the second baseman has hit safely in 11 of those games with multiple hits in 10, including two or more hits in seven of the last eight games. This remarkable career that only comes around so often is spicing up for one final run as the team heads into the final month of the season. 
 
All the while, Provenzano has been moving up those four previously listed batting categories.
 
This past weekend against Sam Houston State, he moved into fourth in the school's career hits record book with 229 and is now just 18 hits shy of matching record holder Andrew Guillotte with 247 hits.
 
His 40 career doubles ranks him ninth all-time and is six away from moving into the top five while his 319 total bases rank him fifth all-time. In addition, his 752 career at-bats rank him third all-time as he should move into second (761) this coming weekend.
 
But don't bring up his greatness to him.
 
"All I care about is doing what needs to be done to help the team win," he said following a two-hit game on Saturday against the Bearkats.
 
There's no doubt Provenzano's success at the plate has spilled into success for the team as the Cowboys enter this weekend's Southland Conference series at Corpus Christi with their sights set on clinching a spot in the postseason tournament.
 
Provenzano and the Cowboys (20-24) will get the week's slate of games started on Tuesday when they visit Southland foe Houston Baptist in a non-conference tilt before heading to Corpus Christi for a Friday-Sunday league series. First pitch is slated for 3 p.m. at Huskey Field.
 
McNeese defeated the Huskies (21-23) by an 11-8 score on April 17 at Joe Miller Ballpark in a game where Provenzano went 3-for-5 from the plate with a home run, RBI and three runs scored.
 
Peyton McLemore, who picked up the win in that previous contest, is expected to get the start for the Cowboys on Tuesday night to mark his first start of the season and 19^th appearance.