LAKE CHARLES – The three-time champion McNeese Cowboy baseball team will start up its 2023 season this weekend in a three-game home series against Creighton.
 
First pitch on Friday will be 6 p.m. followed by a 2 o'clock start on Saturday and 1 on Sunday.
 
McNeese (34-23 in 2022) is the defending Southland Conference regular season champion and title holder of the 2019 and 2021 SLC tournament, making it a champion in the last three seasons.
 
The Cowboys return the bulk of their offense from a season ago, including league player of the year and outfielder Payton Harden, who led the conference in batting with a .378 average, and second baseman Brad Burckel, who finished right behind Harden with a .373 average. Both have been named to the league's preseason first team along with Josh Leslie (.331-6-33) who will move over from third base to shortstop this year.
 
Kade Hunter, a preseason second team selection after hitting .282 with seven home runs last season, is expected to play at first base while UIW transfer and senior Taylor Darden will get the start at third base.
 
Joining Harden in the outfield will be preseason second team all-SLC selection Braden Duhon (.329, 37 RBIs) in right field and Cooper Hext in left. Tré Obregon III will hit in the DH spot. Obregon was hitting .357 through the first 15 games last season before an injury put him out for the rest of the year.
 
Behind the plate will be Andruw Gonzales who hit .354 in 28 games last year.
 
Grant Rogers, the league's reigning pitcher of the year, will take the mound on Friday night. Rogers compiled a 7-4 record with a 4.26 ERA for the season but boasted a 4-2 mark and a 3.86 ERA in eight conference starts where he held opponents to a .200 batting average.
 
University of Houston righty transfer Derrick Cherry is penciled in to get the start on Saturday. Cherry was a 2021 Collegiate Baseball Preseason All-American and the American Athletic Conference's No. 16 MLB Draft Prospect in 2022 by Baseball America.
 
The Cowboys are coached by Justin Hill who is now in his 10^th season. Hill earned SLC Coach of the Year honors last season and in the second game of the SLC tournament, a win over Nicholls on May 20, 2022, became the school's all-time winningest coach, passing the late Tony Robichaux, a McNeese Hall of Famer, who posted 262 victories at McNeese. Hill enters the season with 266 wins on his resume.
 
HARDEN ON THE BRINK OF HITTING GREATNESS
• Senior outfielder Payton Harden enters the new season on the brink of becoming McNeese's all-time hits leader.
• The Atascocita native who is in his fifth season as a Cowboy, has 252 career hits entering the weekend, just two shy of the career record of 254 held by Joe Provenzano (2015-18).
• His 85 hits last season ranks tied as the second-most in a single season in school history, matching the 85 by Chris Schmitz (1998), Tyson Switzenberg (1998), and Steven Irvine (2010).
• He's also two runs away from matching the career record of 164 held by Reid Bourque (2018-22).
 
Other Career Records to Watch for Harden
At-Bats: 757 (record is 870 by Andrew Guillotte 2012-15)
Total Bases: 316 (record is 417 by Charlie Kingrey 2004-07 and Shane Selman 2016-19)
Stolen Bases: 62 (record is 79 by Reid Bourque 2018-22)
Most Games Played: 188 (record is 237 by Reid Bourque 2018-22)
Most Games Started: 188 (record is 236 by Reid Bourque 2018-22)
 
BURCKEL HITTING STREAK CONTINUES
• Senior second baseman Brad Burckel will carry a 21-game hitting streak into this weekend's opener.
• During the streak, is 36 for 87 (.414) with five home runs, 21 RBIs, 10 doubles, a triple and 27 runs scored.
• The hitting streak school record is 24 by Joe Hulett in 2007.
 
SERIES VS. CREIGHTON
• McNeese is 5-1 all-time against Creighton.
• The two last played on Feb. 23, 2019 in Lake Charles with the Blue Jays winning 11-7.
• Prior to that, McNeese had won five straight including a three-game sweep in Omaha in 2017.
• Creighton appeared in the Lake Area Classic in 1992, 1995 and 2019.
 
McNeese vs. Creighton Series                                                                      
2/23/19   Creighton 11, at McNeese 7
5/14/17   McNeese 9, at Creighton 4
5/13/17   McNeese 5, at Creighton 3
5/12/17   McNeese 5, at Creighton 1
2/24/95   at McNeese 9, Creighton 6
2/29/92   at McNeese 10, Creighton 8