LAKE CHARLES, La. - McNeese baseball (0-0) is set to open its 2025 season at Joe Miller Ballpark Friday night at 6 p. m. against Wichita State (0-0). Opening weekend will begin Friday night followed by the second and third games of the series on Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at 12 p.m. with all three games being streamed on ESPN+.
Both squads have met six times prior with the first meeting occurring in 2003, resulting in a 4-3 win for the Cowboys and the last meeting in 2018 ending a narrow 11-10 Shockers victory.
Two Cowboys were named to the Southland All-Conference Teams in seniors
Conner Westenburg on the first team and
Simon Larranaga on the second team. McNeese was selected to finish third in the SLC preseason poll voted on by the coaches and sports information directors.
McNeese returns 18 players from the 2024 squad that went to the SLC Tournament Championship Game while bringing in 23 newcomers.
Left-handed pitcher
Alexis Gravel is slotted to start Friday's game against right-handed Brady Hamilton for the Shockers. Game two will feature another duel against a lefty and righty in
Cooper Golden and Grant Adler respectively. The starters on the mound for Sunday are yet to be determined.
Series Preview
• McNeese won the first matchup between the squads in 2003 4-3 at a neutral site in Lafayette, Louisiana.
• Wichita State holds the all-time series lead 5-1 with the last meeting occurring in 2018 in Lake Charles.
• Marks the first meeting between Coach Hill and Coach Green.
McNeese Notes
• The Cowboys return 18 members from the 2024 roster and added 23 over the offseason headed into 2025.
• Coach Hill guided the Pokes to a 32-27 record on the 2024 season to mark his ninth season of earning 30+ wins in a season.
• Conner Westenburg was named to the Southland Preseason All-Conference First Team.
• Simon Larranaga earned recognition on the SLC Preseason All-Conference Second Team.
• The Cowboys officially began practice on Friday, January 24 with an intrasquad to get things started.
• On February 1, the Cowboy Alumni Game was hosted, seeing multiple players return with alumni Jace Peterson, Grant Rogers, Cayne Uekert, Payton Harden, Ty Abraham, Cooper Hext, Matt Fontenot, and numerous others making an appearance.
• Peyton McLemore was added to the coaching staff as an assistant coach/pitching coordinator while Peyton LeJeune also joined as a Student Assistant Coach.
Scouting the Opponent
• Wichita State is coming off a 32-29 campaign in which they made an appearance in the AAC Baseball Title Game.
• The Shockers entered the tournament as the fourth seed, defeating UAB (8-2) and ECU (14-4) before the latter forced a third game (5-4) before WSU advanced (12-2) to the title game. The Shockers fell to Tulane 11-10.
• The Shockers will kick off the season with an eight-game road stretch before hosting Cal State Fullerton on February 28.
• Four members were named to the Preseason AAC All-Conference Team in Mauricio Millan (C), Josh Livingston (1B), Jordan Rogers (2B) and Camden Johnson (SS).
Last Time Out
• McNeese went on a 3-2 run during the 2024 SLC Baseball Tournament in which it made its fourth Title Game appearance in five seasons.
• En route to the Championship Game, McNeese defeated Northwestern State 10-5, UIW 6-2, fell to Lamar 18-9 before rebounding against the Cardinals in a 14-4 run-rule victory before falling to Nicholls 15-1.
• McNeese defeated NSU 10-5 in the opening round of the SLC Tournament avenging a loss the conference opening weekend series against them 2-1 with Zach Voss claiming the win.
• The Cowboys avenged another conference series loss (0-3) against UIW 6-2 in the second round of the tournament as Alexis Gravel picked up the victory.
• After defeating NSU & UIW, the Pokes lost to top-seeded Lamar 18-9 in the SLC Semifinals which forced the if-necessary game in which McNeese won in a seven-inning run rule 14-4.
• The season concluded as the Cowboys fell to Nicholls 15-1 in the Title Game with Zach Voss making his second start of the day (Lamar) and third of the tournament (NSU/Lamar/Nicholls).
