LAKE CHARLES – McNeese will open up its defense of the Southland Conference Tournament title on Wednesday at 4 p.m. as the as the No. 7 seed and will take on 2^nd-seeded New Orleans.
 
The eight-team, double-elimination tournament will be held at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field on the Southeastern Louisiana campus in Hammond.
 
McNeese, which will be making its 18^th appearance and ninth consecutive in the postseason tourney, swept through the 2019 league tournament with a 4-0 record as the No. 5 seed. The 2020 tournament was canceled due to the COVID pandemic.
 
Host team Southeastern Louisiana, the third seed, will play No. 6 Northwestern State at 7 p.m. in the other game on McNeese's side of the bracket. The two winners of those games will play at 7 on Thursday while the two losers will play in an elimination game at noon Thursday. Northwestern State, which tied with the Cowboys with 64 total points in the standings, won the tiebreaker due to a 3-1 series win over McNeese in the regular season.
 
On the other side, an all Texas field, will see No. 4 A&M-Corpus Christi go up against No. Sam Houston at 9 a.m. on Wednesday while No. 1 Abilene Christian will play No. 8 Lamar at noon.
 
The championship game will be a winner-take-all contest at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
 
McNeese, 29-29 overall and 21-18 in league play, recording the fourth-most conference wins this season behind ACU (25 wins), UNO (23) and SLU (22).
 
The Cowboys posted a 5-7 record this season against the teams on their side of the bracket – 2-2 vs. UNO and SLU and 1-3 against Northwestern State.
 
McNeese has won the tournament three times – 1993, 2003 and 2019, and in 17 tournament appearances, has posted a 20-27 record.
 
2021 Southland Conference Baseball Tournament
May 26-29 • Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field • Hammond, La.
 
Wednesday, May 26
Game 1 – No. 4 A&M-Corpus Christi vs. No. 5 Sam Houston, 9 a.m.
Game 2 – No. 1 Abilene Christian vs. No. 8 Lamar, 12 p.m.
Game 3 – No. 2 New Orleans vs. No. 7 McNeese, 4 p.m.
Game 4 – No. 3 Southeastern La. vs. No. 6 Northwestern State, 7 p.m.
 
Thursday, May 27
Game 5 – Loser G1 vs. Loser G2, 9 a.m.
Game 6 – Loser G3 vs. Loser G4, 12 p.m.
Game 7 – Winner G1 vs. Winner G2, 4 p.m.
Game 8 – Winner G3 vs. Winner G4, 7 p.m.
 
Friday, May 28
Game 9 – Loser G7 vs. Winner G5, 9 a.m.
Game 10 – Loser G8 vs. Winner G6, 12 p.m.
Game 11 – Winner G7 vs. Winner G9, 4 p.m.
Game 12 – Winner G8 vs. Winner G10, 7 p.m.
 
Saturday, May 29
#Game 13 – Winner G11 vs. Loser G11 (if necessary), 9 a.m.
#Game 14 – Winner G12 vs. Loser G12 (if necessary), 1 p.m.
Championship – Winner G11/13 vs. Winner G12/14, 6 p.m.