NATCHITOCHES – McNeese's late-game rally fell a run short at Saturday's final regular season game as Northwestern held off the Cowboys for a 7-6 win and clinching the season series while also locking up the No. 4 seed in next week's Southland Conference Tournament.
 
McNeese (32-15, 19-11) will be the No. 5 seed after Lamar (20-10 SLC) defeated HCU on Saturday. Southeastern locked up the No. 1 overall seed after it swept a doubleheader over Nicholls and will host an opening round pod beginning Thursday that will include McNeese and Northwestern State (33-19, 19-11).
 
UTRGV, the No. 2 seed and regular season co-champion, will host the other bracket that will have Lamar and HCU. New Orleans and A&M-Corpus Christi play Saturday night and will conclude its series on Sunday. Should the Islanders sweep the Privateers, UNO will be heading to Hammond as the No. 8 seed.
 
For the Cowboys at Northwestern State on Saturday, NSU built a 7-1 lead through six innings but McNeese refused to quit and battled back to make a game out of it.
 
Bryce Jones hit the first of two home runs in the final three innings with a three-run shot in the top of the seventh to close the gap to 7-4. An inning later, Simon Larranaga led-off with a solo home run to make it a 7-5 game.
 
The Cowboys loaded the bases with one out and looking for more scores, but a strikeout and groundout followed as three runners were left stranded.
 
Jones struck again in the top of the ninth with a lead-off homer to make it 7-6 and Grant Mangrum followed by reaching first after a NSU throwing error. But McNeese was unable to move the runner around and the Demons held on for the win.
 
Pitchers of Record:
W – Trent Hillen (7-1), NSU | 6.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 6 SO
L – Diego Corrales (0-3), McN | 3.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 0 SO
S – Austin Anderson, NSU (2) | 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO
 
At the Plate:
Bryce Jones | 3-4, 4 RBI, 2 R, 2 HR
Marcus Heusohn | 2-4, R, 2B
 
Scoring Summary:
• Bottom 1 – 2-out single by Braden Benton to score Reese Lipoma. NSU 1-0.
• Top 2 – Easton Dowell 1-out sac fly to center field to score Marcus Heusohn. 1-1.
• Bottom 3 – Rocco Gump reached on a fielding error by 1B that allowed Samuel Stephenson to score. NSU 2-1.
• Bottom 4 – Hudson Brignac 1-out sac fly to left field scored Clay Jung. NSU 3-1.
• Bottom 6 – Two-run double by Lipoma who then later scored on a throwing error by the McNeese pitcher. NSU 7-1.
• Top 7 – Bryce Jones 2-out, 3-run home run. NSU 7-4.
• Top 8 – Simon Larranaga lead-off solo home run. NSU 7-5.
• Top 9 – Bryce Jones lead-off solo home run. NSU 7-6.

Missed Opportunities:
• Top 3 – After tying the game 1-1, Matt Stancliff and Bryce Jones hit back-to-back 2-out singles but would be left stranded.
• Top 8 – After a Simon Larranaga pinch-hit lead-off home run and then with one out, Mack Brousseau walked, Marcus Heusohn singled and Larry Edwards Jr. singled to load the bases. A strikeout and groundout followed to leave the bases loaded.