HOUSTON, Texas – McNeese baseball, off to its best start in 34 seasons, will take to the road for the first time this season, looking to extend its eight-game win streak against Houston Christian with a three-game series starting 6:30 p.m. Friday night at Husky Field. The Cowboys, off to a 10-1 (3-0 SLC) start, enters their second weekend of conference play against the Huskies who come in at 7-3 (3-0 SLC) starting 3-0 in Southland play for the first time in their program's history.
 
The series begins at 6:30 p.m. Friday with scheduled start times of 2 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday. Friday's game is slated to be streamed on ESPN+ with live stats available to follow along on all three days.
 
The Pokes were ranked in 11Point7's College Baseball Power Rankings released Monday morning in the 24^th slot, marking the first time a Southland team has been ranked this season. Joining them in the poll was SLC newcomer UTRGV in 25^th to round out the poll.

McNeese, UTRGV, Southeastern, and HCU all sit tied atop the league standings at 3-0 in league play. The 3-0 start marks the best beginning to conference play for the Pokes since 2021 when they kick-started the season 5-0 in SLC action.
 
McNeese's eight-game win streak matches the longest under head coach Justin Hill who has accomplished the feat twice, once in 2017 and again in 2022 en route to the SLC regular season championship and SLC Tournament Championship Series.
 
In their second midweek matchup of the season, the Pokes run-ruled Dillard 19-6 in seven innings Tuesday evening, tying the program record for most runs scored in an inning with a 12-run bottom of the sixth. The feat was last accomplished in 1999 against Texas State in a 25-7 victory over the Bobcats.
 
The Cowboys are slated to start left-handed pitchers Alexis Gravel (senior) and Cooper Golden (junior) on Friday and Saturday, going up against two right-handed pitchers in Parker Edwards and Joshua Caravalho. Gravel owns a 2-0 record on the season sitting at a 0.56 ERA to lead the team. Both he and Golden will make their fourth starts of the season.
 
McNeese pitching has earned its way to being nationally ranked in the Top 20 in five categories, sitting fourth in the nation in Earned Run Average at 2.37, fifth with a 1.08 WHIP, fifth in strikeout-to-walk ratio at 4.10, 10^th in shutouts, owning two, and 20^th in Strikeouts per nine innings at 11.3.

Offensively, graduate student Davis Meche sits in 16th in the nation with seven on the season. As a unit, McNeese is 27th in D1 baseball with five triples on the season while sitting 70th in doubles at 25. 
 
Series Preview
• McNeese holds the all-time series lead 38-19, owning a 15-9 record when playing the Huskies on the road
• The Cowboys took the series 2-1 in 2024 when playing in Lake Charles.
• Coach Hill and Coach VanderLaan will meet for the first time at the helm.
 
McNeese Notes
• Coach Hill is off to his best start at the helm with a 10-1 start and the Cowboys' best start since 1991 when the program started 10-1.
• The Cowboys are riding an eight-game win streak, the best for the Pokes since 2022 and tying the longest win streak under Coach Hill.
• The Cowboys were recently ranked 24th in the 11Point7 College Baseball Power Rankings. Conference foe UTRGV sits in the 25th slot.
• McNeese tied a program record for runs scored in an inning with its 12-run bottom of the sixth that has remained unmatched since the Cowboys did so against Texas State in 1999.
• By sweeping Nicholls 3-0, it marks the first time since 2021 the Cowboys have opened conference with a series sweep when they swept Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
• Larry Edwards Jr. leads the team with a .394 average on the season with Easton Dowell (.343), Conner Westenburg (.325), and Davis Meche (.321) also hitting over .300.
• McNeese has claimed two shutouts on the season with the first being a 1-0 win over Oakland (Game 1) before defeating UL-Lafayette 3-0 at home last Tuesday.
• Alexis Gravel was named the Week 2 SLC Pitcher of the Week after his 12-strikeout performance against Oakland in the series opener.
• The Pokes are fourth in the nation in ERA at 2.37 and lead the Southland. The squad's 4.10 strikeout-to-walk ratio is ranked fifth in the nation and atop the SLC.
• McNeese is tied tenth in the nation with two shutouts. 
• Sergio Lopez sits seventh the nation in WHIP at 0.50 on the season.
• McNeese is ranked 27th in the nation with five triples.
• McNeese swept Oakland 3-0 in the teams' first ever meeting.
• McNeese had back-to-back walk-off victories against Oakland with Mack Brousseau hitting walk-off solo home run Saturday and Matt Stancliff hitting a walk-off RBI single with the bases loaded Sunday.
• McNeese's series wins over Oakland and Wichita State are the first in program history for each respective school.
• 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.
• 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
• HCU earned a series sweep over UIW, outscoring the Cardinals 33-22 over the weekend.
• The Huskies defeated Central Michigan 3-1 in an opening weekend four-game series.
• HCU's two-way player Parker Edwards was named SLC Hitter of the Week (Week 3), the first Husky player to earn the honor this season.
• Marks the first time HCU has started off conference play 3-0 since joining the Southland.
• Jack Walker leads the squad with a .389 average, earning 14 hits in 36 at-bats with four doubles and nine RBIs.
 
Last Time Out
• McNeese earned its second straight run-rule over Dillard in a 19-6 showing Tuesday night.
• The Cowboys had a 12-run sixth inning to tie the program record for most runs in an inning.
Conner Westenburg compiled two home runs in the outing, one being a leadoff homer to start the game.
• Five relief pitchers came in to throw 
• McNeese swept Nicholls 3-0 for the first conference-opening series sweep since 2021 against the Islanders.
• Sergio Lopez earned his third save of the season Saturday afternoon in the 2-1 win. Jake Blackwell picked up the first save of the weekend Friday night.
• Alexis Gravel picked up Friday night's win with Blayne Fritcher earning a win Saturday, and Caleb Strmiska collecting Sunday's win.
• Fritcher's win was his first with the Cowboys.