LAKE CHARLES--  McNeese baseball fell 6-2 Friday night in the opening game of the Southland Conference series to Incarnate Word, evening the Cowboys overall record to 17-17 overall and 8-8 in the SLC.  UIW also evened its record to 17-17 overall and improved to 8-11 in the SLC with win.  The two teams will meet again on Saturday at 2 p.m. with the series finale scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday.

The Cowboys took an early lead in the first inning on a Marus Heusohn's single to the pitcher that brought Matt Stancliff home. Stancliff picked up the Cowboys' first hit of the game with a single to right.

UIW took a 2-0 lead in the second inning on a Trent Rucker two-run home run, his third of the season.

Stancliff picked up his second hit of the game when he doubled down the left field line that scored Connor Schneider to tie the game at two apiece.

The Cardinals scored two more runs in the third inning on two solo homeruns. Jake Weaver led off the inning with his third homerun of the season for the 3-2 lead before Colin Cybalista's two out homer gave the Cardinals a 4-2 lead. It was also Cybalista's third long ball of the season.

Neither team scored for the next three innings until UIW added a single run in the seventh when Tony DeJesus scored an unearned run for the 5-2 lead.

The final UIW run came in the ninth inning when Weaver scored on a double to right by Cris Enriquez.

UIW outhit the Cowboys 12-8 and retired the last 11 Cowboys in the game.

Cooper Golden took the loss, falling to 2-3 on the season while Ashton Perkins improved to 3-1 on the season with the win.