LAKE CHARLES – McNeese fell 10-3 to Stephen F. Austin on Sunday, dropping its first Southland Conference home series of the season.
The loss moved McNeese to 31-13 overall and 18-9 in league play while SFA improved to 15-31 and 6-21. And with UTRGV beating UIW on Sunday to end its league regular season at 22-8, the Vaqueros have clinched to host one of the two SLC tournament opening round brackets.
Southeastern (20-7) defeated Lamar (17-10) and now has a two-game lead over the Cowboys in the standings to host the final tournament bracket. McNeese does hold the tiebreaker over the Lions.
The Cowboys will visit Northwestern State (17-10) in the final league series Thursday-Saturday while Southeastern will visit Nicholls.
Next up, McNeese will wrap up its non-conference part of the schedule on Tuesday when it visits Southern.
NOTEBOOK
• SFA scored three runs in the top of the first inning then added five more in the fourth to take an 8-0 lead.
•
Conner Westenburg and
Marcus Heusohn each extended their bases reached streak, Westenburg to 34 games and Heusohn to 32.
•
Larry Edwards Jr. extended his hitting streak to 12 straight games after going 1-for-4 on Sunday.
• Edwards Jr. hit his 17
th double on the season, tying him for the team lead with
Easton Dowell.
•
Simon Larranaga hit his 11
th home run of the season in the 5
th inning.
• McNeese dropped its first Southland Conference home series on the year.
PITCHERS OF RECORD
Winning Pitcher – Elian Balmaceda, SFA (1-5)
Losing Pitcher –
Parker Morgan, McN (1-2)
Save – Jack James, SFA (1)
AT THE PLATE
•
Simon Larranaga (11) 1-2, HR, RBI, R, 2 BB
•
Mack Brousseau 1-5, 2 RBI
HOW IT HAPPENED
T1 – SFA recorded four hits, two of those doubles, and scored three early runs to take the lead. SFA 3-0.
T4 – A 2-run home run by Josh Ibe capped off a 5-run inning by the Lumberjacks as they put four hits on the board in the frame. SFA 8-0.
B5 – McNeese got three runs on the board on five hits.
Simon Larranaga got things going with a 1-out, solo home run, his 11
th on the season.
Grant Mangrum and
Conner Westenburg followed with back-to-back singles. After a second out,
Mack Brousseau hits a 2-run single to right-center field. SFA 8-3.
T6 – SFA got a lead-off double followed by a single, then after a McNeese pitching change, recorded three more singles to score to more runs and increase the lead. SFA 10-3.
MISSED OPPORTUNITIES
B2 – McNeese loaded the bases with 2-outs.
Grant Mangrum's slow roller in the 5-6 hole was scooped up by the SFA third baseman and was able to throw Mangrum out at first by a half a step, leaving all three runners stranded.
Larry Edwards Jr. got the first hit of the game for the Cowboys, a ground-rule double to left field.
B5 – After scoring three runs in the inning, the Cowboys loaded the bases with two outs but a ground out to third base ended the rally.
B7 –
Connor Schneider hit a 1-out double down the right field line but a line out and infield pop-up ended the inning and stranding the runner in scoring position.
