THIBODAUX – McNeese Baseball will step out of Southland Conference play against a league opponent on Tuesday when the Cowboys visit Nicholls for mid-week action.
 
First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 at Ray Didier Field. The game will broadcast on ESPN Plus.
 
The Cowboys (30-16, 11-10 SLC) are coming off a series win over Lamar this past weekend, winning on Friday and Saturday by scores of 6-4 and 4-3, but fell short in their bid for their first league sweep on Sunday by a 10-9 count.
 
Nicholls (27-18, 12-6) swept Southeastern, and in doing so, moved to the top of the conference standings.
 
The two teams opened the conference season against each other back in March with Nicholls winning two out of three games in Lake Charles. The Cowboys won the Friday night contest 8-3 but dropped Saturday's game 8-6 in 12 innings, then Sunday's finale by an 8-5 score.
 
Cowboy shortstop Josh Leslie leads the team in two of the three "Triple Crown" categories with a .316 batting average and 47 RBIs. He's second on the squad with six home runs, one behind leaders Brad Burckel and Cooper Hext. He leads the conference with 20 doubles followed by Tré Obregon III who is second with 17.
 
McNeese will close out Southland play this weekend at Northwestern State then will complete the regular season next week with games at LSU (May 16) and a three-game home series vs. Miami-Ohio (May 17-19) before the May 23-27 Southland Conference Tournament at Joe Miller Ballpark.