LAKE CHARLES, La. - McNeese Baseball continues its 2024 campaign into the Southland Conference Baseball Tournament after earning the No. 5 seed, taking on No. 4 seed Northwestern State Wednesday, May 22 at 9 a.m. in the opening game of the tourney.
The tournament is being hosted by Southeastern in Hammond, La. at Pat Kenelly Diamond this Wednesday through Saturday where an NCAA Tournament berth will be earned.
"There's nothing quite like postseason baseball," said head coach
Justin Hill. "I'm so proud of this team and how far they have come since the beginning of the season."
The Cowboys finished the regular season with a 29-25 overall record, going 11-13 in Southland Conference play. Northwestern State finished at 22-31, 11-13 SLC.
McNeese helped shape who won the Southland Conference Regular Season Championship by defeating Nicholls Saturday who ended up one game back from Lamar, the top seed of the tournament.
As skipper of the Cowboys, Hill has led the Cowboys to a tournament appearance each year for for his 11 seasons at the helm. It will be the 12th consecutive appearance for the Pokes and 22nd in the Southland Conference Tournament.
McNeese sat in ninth place within the conference standings until they defeated Southeastern 2-1 to move to eighth. After sweeping Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, the Pokes rose to sixth before peaking at fourth with a 2-1 series win against HCU. Nicholls won the final series 2-1 with the series finale victory helping the Cowboys earn the fifth seed.
2024 Southland Conference Baseball Championship Schedule
Wednesday, May 22
Game 1: No. 4 Northwestern State vs. No. 5 McNeese, 9 AM
Game 2: No. 1 Lamar vs. No. 8 UIW, 12 PM
Game 3: No. 2 Nicholls vs. No. 7 A&M-Corpus Christi, 4 PM
Game 4: No. 3 New Orleans vs. No. 6 Southeastern, 7 PM
Thursday, May 23
Game 5: Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser
Game 6: Game 3 Loser vs. Game 4 Loser
Game 7: Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner
Game 8: Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Winner
Friday, May 24
Game 9: Game 5 Winner vs. Game 7 Loser
Game 10: Game 6 Winner vs. Game 8 Loser
Game 11: Game 7 Winner vs. Game 9 Winner
Game 12: Game 8 Winner vs. Game 10 Winner
Saturday, May 25
Game 13: Game 11 Winner vs. Game 11 Loser (If Necessary)
Game 14: Game 12 Winner vs. Game 12 Loser (If Necessary)
Game 11/13 Winner vs. Game 10/12 Winner (CHAMPIONSHIP GAME)
