LAKE CHARLES – McNeese baseball returns home on Friday to begin a three-game weekend series against the Kansas Jayhawks of the Big 12 Conference.
 
First pitch on Friday is schedule for 6 p.m. Saturday's game will carry a 2 o'clock first pitch while Sunday's finale will begin at 11 a.m. Friday and Sunday's games will broadcast on ESPN+.
 
The Cowboys (2-2) are coming off a midweek 8-3 victory over Louisiana Tech where they saw a stellar performance from the bullpen to stifle the Bulldogs for seven innings of work. Cowboys' offensive spark came from Danny Barbero after he homered to deep center to score Connor Schneider to give them a 3-2 lead.
 
In the bottom of the seventh, Barbero doubled down the right field line to bring in Kaden Schuck to take a 4-2 lead. The ninth inning offensive spark was led by RBI singles from Hayden Stringfellow, Marcus Heusohn, and Easton Dowell, followed by an RBI hit-by-pitch to Bryce Fontenot to put the Cowboys up 8-3.
 
Jake Blackwell picked up his first win of the season for the Cowboys after tossing two scoreless innings with three strikeouts. Eric Nachtsheim earned his first save of the season after throwing two scoreless innings with allowing only one hit and three strikeouts.
 
The four Cowboy relief pitchers combined to throw seven innings and gave up just one run, six hits, and struck out 11 of the 13 batters faced on the night.
 
Kansas (2-2) is coming off a midweek 4-1 loss over conference foe the Lamar Cardinals after winning two out of the three games down in Edinburg over UTRGV during opening weekend. Last season the Jayhawks advanced to the NCAA Regionals in Fayetteville before seeing their season come to an end at the hands of North Dakota State.
 
 
Series Information: vs Kansas

• Location: Joe Miller Ballpark | Lake Charles, LA 
• Last 5 Meetings: 0-1
• Last Meeting: February 24,1996 | Kansas, 13-7 in Lake Charles

Records:

• McNeese (2-2,0-0)
• Kansas (2-2,0-0)

Game Promotions:

• Friday – "Fan-Tastic" Friday/Stranger Things Night/ Student Experience Night 
  • Free Stranger Things shirts for first 100 students 
• Sunday – Signature Sunday
  • First 50 kids get a pack of trading cards
  • Post game Autographs
  • Kids may run the bases post game

Tune In:

• Friday
  • Live Stats
  • ESPN+
• Saturday
  • Live Stats
• Sunday
  • Live Stats
  • ESPN+

Gameday Notebook:

• First match up against Kansas since the 1996 season.
• Friday's game with be the second all-time meeting between the programs.
• Danny Barbero hit his second home run of the season for the Cowboys against the Bulldogs
• Bryce Fontenot leads the team in batting average through the first four games with .667 with 4 hits in 6 at bats. He's credited with two doubles and one home run on the season.
• Hayden Stringfellow is second on the team in batting average through four games of play batting .588 with 10 hits in 17 at bats. He went 4 for 5 with 1 double and 1 RBI against LA Tech.
• Jake Blackwell picked up his first win of the season tossing two innings while only allowing three hits and striking out three.
• Eric Nachtsheim was credited with the save after throwing two innings in relief and only allowing one hit while striking out three.
• The four Cowboys that came in to pitch in relief of the starter against LA Tech threw a combines seven innings while only giving up one run, six hits, and striking out 11 of the 13 batters faced.
• Hayden Stringfellow comes into the weekend with a four- game hitting streak while also having three games this season with multiple hits.
• Bryce Fontenot, Danny Barbero, and Hayden Stringfellow have reached base at least once in the first four games of the season.
• Matt Stancliff leads the Cowboys after through four games with three stolen bases.
• The Cowboys offense accounted for 14 hits, 5 doubles, 1 home run, and 8 RBI's against LA Tech
• Cowboy offense has recorded double digit hits in three of the four games this season.
• The Cowboys return three of their top four hitters from the 2025 campaign, highlighted by Easton Dowell, who led the team with a .369 batting average. Marcus Heusohn also returns after posting a .327 average and 15 doubles, the third-most on the team, while Larry Edwards Jr. hit .316 and drove in a team-high 47 runs.
• Simon Larranaga returns to the Cowboys after leading them last season in home runs with 12 on the year.
• Cooper Golden returns as the lone weekend starter from last season after compiling a 3-3 record and 4.71 ERA in 14 starts and 15 appearances. 
• Cowboys will play 32 home games this season.
• Head Coach, Justin Hill is entering his 13^th season at the helm of the program and is the school's all-time winningest coach with a 365-284 overall record and 180-143 conference record.
• Cowboys return 20 players from last year's team, as well as welcome 21 newcomers to the roster.
• The 21 newcomers for the Cowboys hail from Bossier Parish CC (5), Navarro College (3), Rose State College, LSU-E, National Park College, Hill College, Butler, UNLV, Tyler Juco (2), Delgado CC, Central Missouri, Mississippi College, UT Tyler, and High School (2).
• Three of the Cowboys' opponents this season advanced to the NCAA Regionals last year – Kansas, Houston Christian, and LSU, who won the College World Series against Coastal Carolina.