LAKE CHARLES – McNeese designated hitter Mack Brousseau blasted a two-run home run over the right-center field wall in the bottom of the eighth inning against Stephen F. Austin to give the Cowboys a 12-2, run-rule win in the nightcap of a Southland Conference doubleheader on Saturday.
 
The win followed a 5-4 loss to the Lumberjacks to start the day.
 
The split moves McNeese to 31-12 on the season and 18-8 in league play as it continues to battle for a top two finish in the conference standings. SFA is now 14-31 overall and 5-21 in the conference.
 
The two will play the rubber match on Sunday beginning at 1. McNeese will recognize its seniors in a pregame ceremony starting at 12:30.
 
GAME 1 NOTEBOOK
• Golden threw 3 2/3 innings of perfect ball before giving up a hit in the top of the 4^th.
• The top four batters in McNeese's lineup combined to go 8 for 20 from the plate with 2 RBIs and 3 runs scored.
• With a 1^st inning single, Conner Westenburg extended his consecutive games reaching base streak to 32 straight while Marcuse Heusohn extended his streak to 30.
• Marcus Heusohn led the way with a 3-for-5 game with 2 RBIs and a run scored.
• Larry Edwards Jr. extended his team-high hitting streak to 10 straight games while Heusohn extended his to eighth.
• Left 10 runners on base, four in scoring position.
• SFA collected eight of its 9 hits in the game in both the 6^th and 7^th innings, getting four hits in each.
 
PITCHERS OF RECORD
Winning Pitcher – Cody Templeton, SFA (5-4)
Losing Pitcher – Brady Cocoran, MCN (1-1)
Save – Reid Boyett (2)
 
AT THE PLATE
• Marcus Heusohn was 3-for-5 with two RBIs and a run scored.
• Conner Westenburg finished 2-for-5 with a run scored.
• Matt Stancliff was 2-for-5 with a run scored.
• Grant Mangrum went 2-for-4.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
B3 – Bryce Fontenot and Conner Westenburg led off the inning with back-to-back singles. Marcus Heusohn drove both in with a 2-out single to center field. McNeese 2-0.
 
T6 – Lumberjacks got four hits in the inning and had the tying run thrown out at home after an RBI single to RF resulted in an out at the plate with Bryce Fontenot throwing out the tying run. McNeese 2-1.
 
T7 – SFA got an RBI double by Ethan Adkisson then a one-out, three-run home run from pinch-hitter Dante Turgeon to give the Lumberjacks the lead. SFA 5-2.
 
B7 – Stancliff got things going with a 1-out single to left field then advanced to second on a ground out for the second out of the inning. Heusohn then singled through the right side and advanced to second on the throw while Stancliff ended up on third. Larry Edwards Jr. followed with a 2-run single to left field to cut the margin to 5-4.
 
MISSED OPPORTUNITIES
B5 – Westenburg led off with a single up the middle then stole second. Matt Stancliff laied down a bunt single and advanced Westenburg to third. Stancliff then stole second to put runners at 2^nd and 3^rd with no outs. The two would be left stranded after a fly out, strike out and another fly out followed.
 
 
GAME 2 NOTEBOOK
• Westenburg extended his reached base streak right off the bat with a first inning single, upping the streak to 33-straight games.
• Edwards Jr. and Heusohn extended their respective hitting streaks, Edwards Jr. to 11 games and Heusohn to 9. Heusohn also extended his bases reached streak to 31 games.
• McNeese finished with 17 hits in the game, six of those going for extra-base hits (five doubles and a home run).
• The 17 hits are the most in a game this season for the Cowboys.
• The top three batters in the order combined to go 6-for-14 at the plate with five RBIs and seven runs scored.
• It's the sixth run-rule win on the season and second in Southland Conference play.
 
PITCHERS OF RECORD
Winning Pitcher – Sergio Lopez, MCN (7-1)
Losing Pitcher – Dylan Mulcah, SFA (1-4)
 
AT THE PLATE
• Easton Dowell finished 4-for-4 with an RBI and run scored.
• Seth Fontenot went 3-for-4 with a double, 3 RBIs and a run scored.
• Conner Westenburg finished 3-for-5 with three runs scored.
• Mack Brousseau had a 2-for-5 day with a home run, double, four RBIs and two runs scored.
• David Meche finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
T1 – SFA got a lead-off single by Cermondrick Bland. He advanced to third after stealing the bases then scored on a sac fly by Julian Swift. SFA 1-0.
 
B1 – Conner Westenburg led-off with a single to right field. Matt Stancliff followed with a walk then Mack Brousseau drove both in with a double down the left field wall. Larry Edwards Jr. knocked in Brousseau with a one-out double to the RC wall and Easton Dowell drove him in on a 2-out single up the middle. McN, 4-1
 
B2 – Scored three runs of an RBI double by Stancliff and sac fly from Heusohn. A third run scored on a throwing error by the SFA pitcher that allowed Stancliff to score. McNeese 7-1.
 
B3 – Davis Meche and Easton Dowell started off the inning with back-to-back singles. After the first out of the inning, Seth Fontenot singled to LF to score Meche. McNeese 8-1.
 
B5 – Meche got things going with a 1-out double. Dowell followed with an infield single and Simon Larranaga walked to load the bases. Fontenot drove in two runs with a double down the left field line. McNeese 10-1.
 
T8 – SFA took advantage of two fielding errors by the Cowboys and scored an unearned run in the process. McNeese 10-2.
 
B8 – Brousseau blasted a two-run home run over the RC wall to give McNeese a 12-2 lead and run-rule win. The inning started with a Westenburg single through the right side.
 
MISSED OPPORTUNITIES
B5 – After loading the bases with one out and scoring two runs, the Cowboys left runners stranded on 2^nd and 3^rd after a strike out and infield pop-up ended the inning.
 
B7 – McNeese had runners on the corners with one out looking to win the game by run-rule, but a shallow fly ball to RF on a hit-and-run resulted in a fly-out and put-out at 1B for the double up. Runner was left stranded at 3B.