LAKE CHARLES, La. –  McNeese Baseball (16-14, 2-4 SLC) takes to the road for its fourth consecutive game to challenge defending national champion LSU (21-12, 3-9 SEC) at Alex Box Stadium Tuesday evening at 6:30 p.m. The game will be streamed on SECN+ with live stats available to follow along.
 
Both programs have seen each other every year since 2007 at least once, barring 2020, with McNeese claiming three wins against the historical program. Since head coach Justin Hill took over the helm for the Cowboys, he has faced his alma matter nine times, earning all three victories.
 
Poke Nation saw McNeese take on conference-leading Lamar over the weekend and claim a victory over the Cardinals in the series opener. The latter two games came down to one run each in 1-0 and 4-3 results in favor of Lamar.
 
Over the span of six games, senior JT Moeller has been called to action five times, pitching a season-high four innings during the duration against Alcorn. He claimed his first save of the season against Lamar in the 4-2 victory.
 
Parker Stroh, a senior, hit the team's 13^th triple of the season against the Cardinals Friday night to tie McNeese for the conference lead with UIW. Both teams sit just six triples behind that national leader.
 
Following the meeting, McNeese returns home to host UIW for its military weekend Apr. 12-14 at Joe Miller Ballpark.
 
Game Preview
Tue., Apr. 9 at LSU | 6:30 p.m. | SECN+
 
Series Preview
• McNeese has claimed 12 wins all-time over the Tigers while they have earned 33.
• Seven of the 12 wins have taken place on the road. McNeese is 5-5 at home.
• The Cowboys last beat LSU on the road in 2019 in a 2-0 victory.
• All five of the teams' meetings have occurred in Baton Rouge since 2018.
• The Cowboys held the Tigers to a three-run game in 2023 when the latter went on to claim the national championship.
 
McNeese Notes
• Cooper Hext is third in the nation with five triples on the season. Hext leads the conference while Grant Mangrum and Conner Westenburg are sixth in the SLC with two.
• The blue and gold sit eighth in the nation with 13 triples tied for the lead in the conference with UIW who was once the nation's leader.
• Alexis Gravel's eight starts place him 23rd in the nation and tied with 10 other players for the top spot in the conference.
• McNeese is 44th in D1 Baseball with two shutouts on the season, blanking Northwestern and Mississippi Valley State.
• After appearing in three consecutive games against Lamar, JT Moeller moved to 61st in the nation in pitching appearances.
• Moeller leads the conference in strikeout-to-walk ratio at 4.50 on the season.
• The Cowboys have earned at least six hits in 25 of 30 games this season.
• 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.
• McNeese has made 11 straight appearances in the SLC Tournament, qualifying each year under the tutelage of Coach Hill.
 
Scouting the Opponent
• LSU is coming off a series loss to #6 Vanderbilt 2-1 over the weekend in SEC play.
• The Tigers lost to Southern 12-7 in midweek play last week 12-7 who the Cowboys defeated earlier this season.
• LSU is 0-4 in conference play this season.
• Against common opponents faced, LSU holds a 2-1 record, defeating UL-Lafayette 5-4 and Louisiana Tech 11-1 (8 Inn.)
 
Last Five
5/16/2023       LSU 7, McNeese 4
3/9/2022         LSU 6, McNeese 3
4/6/2021         LSU 14, McNeese 1
3/26/2019       McNeese 2, LSU 0
5/9/2018         LSU 13, McNeese 3