HAMMOND – McNeese baseball opened the 2026 Southland Conference Tournament with an 11-3 victory over Nicholls on Thursday in Hammond Bracket play, marking the Cowboys' third postseason win over the Colonels in program history.

With the win, McNeese improves to 29-23 overall, while Nicholls falls to 25-25 overall. The Cowboys will await their round two match up against either Houston Christian or Southeastern after the Huskies and Lions meet later Thursday evening. McNeese dropped its regular season series to HCU earlier this season while taking two of three from Southeastern.

Round two is scheduled for Friday at 6 p.m. and will stream live on ESPN+.

McNeese wasted no time offensively, plating three runs in the opening inning.

Isaiah Keller got the scoring started with a three-run home run to left-center field, his ninth homer of the season, giving the Cowboys an early 3-0 advantage.

Nicholls answered in the bottom half of the inning when Keegan Giger launched a solo home run to right field to trim the deficit to 3-1.

The Cowboys added to their lead in the fourth inning as Easton Dowell delivered a two-RBI double to left-center field to make it 5-1. DJ Pinkerton followed in the fifth with a sacrifice fly to center field that scored Hayden Stringfellow and pushed the lead to 6-1.

The Colonels responded in the bottom of the fifth on a two-run home run by Caston Thompson, cutting the McNeese lead to 6-3.

McNeese broke the game open in the sixth inning, plating three runs on three hits. Danny Barbero started the rally with an RBI single to left field before Hayden Stringfellow capped the inning with a two-RBI single up the middle to extend the advantage to 9-3.

Marcus Heusohn added insurance later in the game with his second home run of the season, and Pinkerton drove in the final run of the afternoon with an RBI single in the eighth inning.

Nicholls starter Haden Luke took the loss, falling to 6-3 on the season after allowing six runs on six hits over 4.1 innings.

McNeese starter Eric Nachtsheim earned the win to improve to 7-3 after allowing three runs on seven hits while striking out three.

With the outing, Nachtsheim increased his season strikeout total to 119, moving into sole possession of second place for most strikeouts in a single season in program history—just two shy of tying the school record.