LAKE CHARLES, La. –  McNeese Baseball (19-20, 3-9 SLC) concludes its homestand in a return to Southland Conference play as Southeastern (21-19, 3-9 SLC) comes to Joe Miller Ballpark for a three-game series starting Friday, April 26.
 
All three games are scheduled to be streamed on ESPN+ with a 6 p.m. start Friday followed by a 2 p.m. first pitch Saturday and 1 p.m. throw on Sunday. Live stats are available for fans to follow along as well.
 
McNeese took the series 2-1 in Hammond last season with Friday and Sunday victories, falling only on Saturday. The Pokes have 96 victories all-time against the Lions with 47 of those coming at home.
 
Led by senior Cooper Hext with five triples, the conference leader, the Pokes own the second-most triples in the conference with 15 through 39 games.
 
Collecting 10 saves on the season, Poke Nation's pitching staff has the second-most saves in the Southland, just behind Lamar with 14 on the season. They own 328 strikeouts for the conference's third most in the 2024 campaign.
 
Head coach Justin Hill collected his 320^th victory at the helm of Poke Nation in Tuesday night's 6-4 victory over Louisiana Christian at home. With the victory, Hill is tied for the eighth most wins by a coach in the Southland with former SLU skipper Matt Riser.
 
McNeese takes to the road against Houston following the weekend before continuing on to challenge Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
 
Weekend Lineup
Fri., Apr. 26 vs Southeastern | 6:00 p.m. | ESPN+
Sat., Apr. 27 vs Southeastern | 2:00 p.m. | ESPN+
Sun., Apr. 28 vs Southeastern | 1:00 p.m. | ESPN+
 
Series Preview
• In 209 meetings since 1953, McNeese is 96-112-1 all time against Southeastern, the last being a 3-2 victory in 2023.
• The Cowboys won last year's series against the Lions 2-1 on Friday and Sunday.
• McNeese has averaged about 4.95 runs a game with 955 total since 1960.
• Poke Nation is 47-42-1 when playing at home against the Lions.
 
McNeese Notes
• Cooper Hext is seventh in the nation with five triples on the season. Hext leads the conference while Conner Westenburg sits fifth in the conference with three.
• The blue and gold sit 21st in the nation with 15 triples second in the conference, one shy of New Orleans.
• Alexis Gravel's 10 starts place him 24th in the nation and tied with 10 other players for the top spot in the conference.
• McNeese is 59th in D1 Baseball with two shutouts on the season, blanking Northwestern and Mississippi Valley State.
• JT Moeller and Kainin Morrow lead the team in pitching appearances at 18 and each sit tied for fifth in the conference.
• Moeller owns the lowest ERA of the relief pitchers at 3.38 over 40.0 IP.
• Cooper owns the best batting average on the team at .316, collecting 18 extra-base hits, the second most on the squad.
• The Cowboys have earned at least six hits in 31 of 39 games this season.
• Thirteen pitchers on the Cowboys' staff have made at least one appearance through four conference series. All season long, 17 pitchers have pitched on the mound.
• The NCAA ranked McNeese as having the 17th-hardest strength of schedule in the nation before Southland play after taking on ranked opponents in Arkansas and Texas A&M, the second-to-last undefeated team.
• Cooper Hext was named to the SLC Preseason All-Conference Second Team.
• McNeese was slated to finish fifth in the conference in the SLC Preseason Poll.
• The Cowboys have 23 returners on the squad with 17 newcomers for the season.
 
Scouting the Opponent
• Southeastern is 2-8 in its last 10 games, defeating Alcorn twice at home in a midweek after challenging ULL twice the week before.
• The Lions opened up conference play by defeating NSU 2-1 in the first series, falling 1-2 against HCU and 0-3 versus Nicholls and Lamar.
• Shea Thomas leads the squad with an average of .324, earning 48 hits, 18 for extra bases.
 
Last Five
4/16/2023          McNeese 3, Southeastern 2
4/15/2023          Southeastern 8, McNeese 7
4/14/2023          McNeese 7, Southeastern 6
5/28/2022          Southeastern 11, McNeese 7
5/27/2022          Southeastern 3, McNeese 2