LAKE CHARLES – McNeese baseball dropped Sunday's rubber match of the opening weekend series, 8-5, to Sam Houston.
 
The loss moved the Cowboys to 1-2 on the early season while the Bearkats improved to 2-1. McNeese will return to action on Wednesday with a visit to Louisiana Tech before returning home for a weekend series against Kansas out of the Big 12 Conference. 
 
McNeese struck first in the bottom of the first when Larry Edwards Jr. singled to right field to score Danny Barbero from second base to give the Cowboys an early 1-0 lead. The Bearkats would strike back in the second when Wes Baker hit a two-run homer over the right field wall to put them up 2-1.
 
Sam Houston added two more runs in the top of the fourth when designated hitter Ryan Frandon popped a two-run shot to make it a 4-1 Bearkat lead, then made it a 5-1 game with another run in the fifth.
 
McNeese went scoreless the second through fourth innings but got back on the board in the bottom of the fifth on a Hayden Stringfellow RBI single to score Danny Barbero to cut the gap to 5-2.
 
Matt Stancliff singled in Easton Dowell on a first pitch swinging to make it a 5-3 game but the long ball for the Bearkats answered back with a seventh-inning two-run shot by Franden, his second homer of the game, then a solo blast by Cade Corcoran in the eighth to put SHSU on top 8-3.
 
McNeese wouldn't go down without a fight as Bryce Fontenot belted a two-run homerun in the bottom of the ninth to make it 8-5.
  
Sam Houston starter Collin Aloisio picked up his first win as a Bearkat and finished with five innings pitched, giving up two runs and five hits, walked one and struck out five. 
 
McNeese starter Myles Meyer (0-1) was the pitcher of record after allowing two runs on one hit, a home run, in two innings of work. The senior who missed all of last season due to an injury, was working on a pitch count and looked sharp as he struck out four of the seven batters faced in the two innings of work.
 
The Cowboys finished with 12 hits in the game, led by Stancliff (3-for-5) and Marcus Heusohn (3-for-5). Stringfellow and Larry Edwards Jr. added two hits each.
 
McNeese left 11 runners stranded including seven in scoring position and three of those left on third base.
 
Pitchers of Record:
Winning Pitcher: Collin Aloisio (1-0)
Losing Pitching: Myles Meyer (0-1)
 
How It Happened:
 
B1 – Larry Edwards Jr. singled to right field to score Danny Barbero from second, McNeese 1-0
T2 – Baker homered to right center to score two runs for the Bearkats, Sam Houston 2-1
T4 – Bazmore was hit by a pitch to walk in a Corcoran from third, Sam Houston 3-1
T4 – Martinez hit a sac fly to center field to bring in Curtis from third, Sam Houston 4-1
T5 – Franden homered to right center, Sam Houston 5-1
B5 – Hayden Stringfellow singled to bring in Danny Barbero from third, Sam Houston 5-2
B6 – Matt Stancliff singled up the middle to score Easton Dowell from third, Sam Houston 5-3
T7 – Franden homered down the right field line to score two for the Bearkats, Sam Houston 7-3
T8 – Corcoran homered to right center, Sam Houston 8-3
B9 – Bryce Fontenot homered to right center to bring in Isaiah Keller, Sam Houston 8-5
 
Up Next
 
Feb. 18 at LA Tech 6PM
Feb. 20 vs Kansas 6PM
Feb. 21 vs Kansas 1PM
Feb. 22 vs Kansas 11AM
Feb. 24 at LSU 6:30 PM
 
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