Box Score HAMMOND, La. – McNeese punched its ticket to Saturday's championship game of the 2021 Southland Conference Baseball Tournament after blowing past Southeastern Louisiana 18-2, 7-inning run-rule win on Friday night while setting a couple of school tournament records in the process.
 
The Cowboys belted out 21 hits for the 18 runs, both McNeese school tournament records, and scored four or more runs in four of the seven innings played. Previous records were 14 runs and 15 hits in 2003 when the Cowboys defeated UT Arlington 14-0 in the tournament championship game.
 
The win was the seventh straight tournament win for the Cowboys as they'll be making their second consecutive tournament title appearance. McNeese will take on the winner of the Sam Houston/Abilene Christian game at 6 p.m. on Saturday. The Bearkats and Wildcats will play an elimination game at 1.
 
"Just kind of at a loss of words," said head coach Justin Hill. "We came out and scored four runs there in the first inning and just kept going. One of the most challenging things was with (starting pitcher) Ty Abraham. He had 30 minutes in between innings a couple of times kept going out there. He gave us four solid innings."
 
Abraham (4-3) got the win after tossing four innings while allowing four hits, one run, walked two and struck out three.
 
"It was all soldiers go," said Hill. "We were rolling today. Playing hard and getting after it. Can't get much better than that."
 
Both Jake Dickerson and Brett Whelton went 4 for 5 from the plate, each scoring three runs and four runs batted in. All nine batters in the lineup recorded at least one hit while seven had two or more.
 
Reid Bourque had a 3 for 5 game with two RBIs and a run score. Payton Harden (2 for 3, 3 runs), Nate Fisbeck (2 for 4, 2 runs, RBI), Tré Obregon (2 for 4, 4 runs, 2 RBI) and Julian Gonzales (2 for 5, 2 RBI) finished with multi-hit games.
 
McNeese (31-28) piled on four runs in each of the the first three innings to roll up a 12-0 lead and getting out to a fast start for the second time in three tournament games.
 
Three Cowboy players already had multiple hits through the first three innings – Whelton and Dickerson with three each and Bourque with two. McNeese batted through the order in each of the first two innings and sent eight batters to the plate in the third.
 
After scoring four runs in the first inning, a two-run single by Dickerson with one out in the second increased the lead to 6-0. That was followed by an RBI single by Whelton and a run-scoring double by Bourque to make it 8-0 before the inning ended.
 
McNeese scored four more runs in the third, all with two outs, behind four straight hits that included a two-run triple by Julian Gonzales and making it a 12-0 lead.
 
After a rare scoreless inning in the fourth and a Lion solo homer to cut the margin to 12-1, McNeese exploded with six runs behind eight hits in the fifth to balloon to an 18-1 lead.
 
Dickerson popped a two-run double to up the lead to 14-1. Whelton and Kade Morris also had RBI singles in the inning.