NEW ORLEANS – McNeese baseball opened its four-game road swing with a 4-3 extra-inning victory over New Orleans on Thursday night, riding an 18-strikeout performance from its pitching staff and a go-ahead home run from Hayden Stringfellow.

With the win, the Cowboys improve to 16-14 overall (7-6 Southland Conference), while New Orleans falls to 12-20 overall (4-11 Southland Conference). Game two of the series is scheduled for Friday at 6:30 p.m.  and will stream live on ESPN+.

McNeese struck first in the opening inning when Marcus Heusohn singled to left field to score Bryce Fontenot and give the Cowboys a 1-0 lead.

New Orleans answered in the bottom half of the inning as Jayden Adcox delivered an RBI single to center field, scoring Eli Tidwell to tie the game at 1-1.

The Cowboys regained the lead in the second inning when Fontenot reached on a fielding error, allowing DJ Pinkerton to score and make it 2-1.

The Privateers took control in the sixth inning, plating two runs on a pair of bases-loaded walks. Dathan Cummings and Tidwell each drew walks to give New Orleans a 3-2 advantage.

McNeese evened the score in the seventh inning when Fontenot came through again with an RBI single to left field, scoring Pinkerton to tie the game at 3-3.

After three scoreless innings, Stringfellow delivered the decisive blow in the top of the 11th inning, launching a solo home run over the left field wall to put the Cowboys ahead 4-3.

McNeese's pitching staff sealed the win from there. Eric Nachtsheim was dominant out of the bullpen, tossing five innings while allowing just two hits and striking out 10 to earn the win and improve to 4-1 on the season.

New Orleans reliever Lane Alack took the loss, falling to 0-2 after allowing one run on one hit over 4.1 innings.

Up Next

Apr. 3 – at UNO

Apr. 4 – at UNO

Apr. 7 – at Grambling            

Apr. 8 – vs Dillard

Apr. 10 – vs UIW

Apr. 11 – vs UIW

Apr. 12 – vs UIW

Apr. 14 – vs Grambling 

Denotes Conference Game
Indicates Home Game