BATON ROUGE – McNeese got a solid outing from its pitching staff on Tuesday night as the Cowboys handed the defending national champion LSU Tigers a 7-6 loss, snapping the Tigers' 16 -game winning streak.
LSU, ranked No.1 in several national polls, becomes the second win by the Cowboys over a top-ranked team in school history. McNeese last defeated the Tigers back in 2019 when they were ranked on top by a score of 2-0.
McNeese moves to 3-5 on the season while LSU drops to 8-1. The Cowboys will return to action this weekend as they travel to Thibodaux to Nicholls as they begin Southland Conference play.
LSU struck first in the bottom of the first when Zach Yorke hit a two-run homer to right field to put the Tigers up 2-0 early in the game.
The Cowboys wasted no time striking back as their first run crossed the play in the top of the second courtesy of
Seth Fontenot being walked.
Matt Stancliff was then hit by a pitch to bring in
Easton Dowell from third to tie the game up at two apiece.
Danny Barbero then singled to right field to drive in two runs for the Cowboys to take a 4-2 lead.
In the top of the fourth the Cowboys began stacking to their lead when
Seth Fontenot singled to right field, where
Bryce Fontenot would then advance on a fielding error by the LSU left fielder to score and put the Cowboys up 5-2. The very next batter,
Hayden Stringfellow, hit a sac fly to center field to drive another run across the plate for the Cowboys.
Larry Edwards Jr. stepped up to the plate and drove a single down to right field to add another for the Cowboys to put them up 7-2 headed to the bottom half of the inning.
The Cowboys were led at the plate by
Larry Edwards Jr. going 2-4 with one walk and one RBI.
Bryce Fontenot also had a good evening at the plate going 1 for 2 with a double.
The Tigers began chipping away at the Cowboys' lead when in the bottom of the fifth, Brown singled through the left side to score Caraway. Later in the evening the Tigers would have another run cross the plate on a passed ball to make the score 7-4. Curiel would then hit a sac fly to left field in the bottom of the sixth to cut the lead to 7-5. In the bottom of the eighth Pearson homered to left field to make the score 7-6 in favor of the Cowboys.
The starter for the Tigers, Marcos Paz, pitched 1.2 innings while allowing four runs on one hit, two walks and two strikeouts on the way to his first loss of the season.
Cowboy relief pitcher,
Jairus Miller had a stellar outing at The Box pitching a season high of 3 innings while only allowing one hit, walking one and striking out a season high of five on the way to picking up his first collegiate win. The final relief pitcher of the night,
Brady Corcoran, picked up his first save of the season, second of his career for the Cowboys going one inning allowing one hit, while walking one and striking out one.
Pitchers of Record:
Winning Pitcher:
Jairus Miller (1-0)
Losing Pitching: Marcos Paz (0-1)
How It Happened:
B1 – Yorke homered to right field to score two, LSU 2-0
T2 –
Seth Fontenot walked to bring in Larry Edwards from third, LSU 2-1
T2 –
Matt Stancliff was hit by a pitch to score another run for the Cowboys, Tie 2-2
T2 –
Danny Barbero single to right field to drive in two run, McNeese 4-2
T4 –
Seth Fontenot singled to right field and
Bryce Fontenot scored on E9, McNeese 5-2
T4 –
Hayden Stringfellow hit a sac fly to center to drive in
Seth Fontenot, McNeese 6-2
T4 –
Larry Edwards Jr. single to right field to score
Matt Stancliff, McNeese 7-2
B5 – Brown singled through the left side to drive in Caraway, McNeese 7-3
B5 – Curiel scored from third on a passed ball, McNeese 7-4
B6 – Curiel hit a sac fly to left to score Pearson, McNeese 7-5
B8 – Pearson homered to left center, McNeese 7-6
Up Next
Feb. 27 at Nicholls 6PM*
Feb. 28 at Nicholls 6PM*
Mar. 1 at Nicholls 2PM*
Mar. 3 at Southern 6PM
Mar. 4 vs LSU-Alexandria
Mar. 6 vs Houston Christian *
Mar. 7 vs Houston Christian *
Mar. 8 vs Houston Christian *
*Denotes Conference Game
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