LAKE CHARLES, La. - In the third matchup of a four-game series, the McNeese Cowboys (3-4) defeated New Mexico State (2-5) baseball 11-8 at Joe Miller Ballpark Sunday afternoon with an eighth-inning thriller.
"What we got to see tonight was a little bit of character from our team," said head coach
Justin Hill. "That's how you figure out how to win a ballgame."
With two home run blasts in the bottom of the second inning, the blue and gold took a towering 4-0 lead over the Aggies.
Simon Larranaga (junior) blasted the first homer of the season for McNeese out to left center for an early 1-0 lead. Later in the inning with two outs on the board and two runners on base,
Conner Westenburg hit a three-run blast out to center field, marking his first home run of his junior campaign.
The Aggies scored on a home run in the fourth inning as McNeese scored shortly after on a double by Westenburg to score redshirt freshman
Easton Dowell, making it 5-1.
A huge eighth inning on New Mexico State's behalf gave them an 8-5 lead with seven runs scoring in the half inning. Staring down adversity, the Pokes on the diamond responded with six runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning. Westenburg scored on a single by senior
Peyton LeJeune before redshirt senior
Chase Keeton came in three at-bats later.
Keeping the momentum going, junior
Connor Schneider hit the game-winning drive on a single out to center field for two RBIs, bringing in senior
Braden Duhon and P. LeJeune to score. Schneider scored himself in the next at-bat before senior
Cooper Hext scored the final run of the game.
When reflecting on his single to drive in the game-winning run, Schneider remarked, "I was thinking to the approach of all my at-bats today and that set me up to be ready in that position. It felt good to fire the team up and put us up front."
On the mound, five pitchers made an appearance with sophomore
Caleb Strmiska taking his second start of the season, throwing 4.1 innings, striking out two and only allowing a single run. A year his senior,
Evan Maldonado came in relief for 2.1 innings before seeing
Brock Barthelemy, a senior, enter in relief.
Max Swenson, a junior, threw for two-thirds of an inning and was credited with the victory as Cameron LeJeune (redshirt junior) pitched the final inning for his first save of the season.
Westenburg had a breakout performance, hitting 3-for-5 in the performance, all hits coming in the form of extra bases while scoring two runs for the Pokes. He led off the game with his first double, collecting an RBI double in the fourth inning as well. In the bottom of the second, Westenburg sent a three-RBI home run out to center field. His batting average has improved to .462 on the season as he sits 12-for-26 at the plate.
McNeese outhit New Mexico State 16-8 with four doubles, a triple, and two home runs. The team amassed a 1.207 OPS in the performance.
The Cowboys return to Joe Miller Ballpark Monday at 11 a.m. to close our the series against the Aggies with the 3-0 advantage.
