No one, Justin Hill says, gets excited by a shutout.

“Except a pitching coach,” the former LSU pitcher quickly adds.

It’s why, the McNeese State coach surmises, his offense — one with six regulars hitting over .300 and the nation’s 11th-best team batting average — is attracting the many headlines it well deserves.

The toughest test for the bats comes this weekend, a litmus test against a Nicholls State (13-8) team that’s 5-1 in the Southland Conference and traditionally renowned for its loaded pitching staff.

Today’s first game was rescheduled for 3 p.m. to avoid inclement weather forecasted later in the day. McNeese (15-6, 6-0) is 11-0 at home and unbeaten in its last 13 at Joe Miller Ballpark, dating to last season.

Though Hill’s starting rotation is sneaking under the radar, perhaps a testament to the home run hunger fans crave. The Cowboys’ weekend threesome of Austin Sanders, Rhett Deaton and Bryan King have ceded seven earned runs in 331⁄3 innings of SLC baseball. Four of the seven belong to King, who has 11 walks in that span.

Hill made little secret of the affinity for his bullpen prior to the season, but had open questions about a rotation looking to replace Kalob Fontenot and Ethan Stremmel. Sanders, a senior who made eight starts last season, was the lone known commodity.

Deaton, whom Hill compared to “vanilla ice cream” last week, has yet to allow more than six hits or three earned runs in a start. His pitch-to-contact repertoire has even amassed 14 strikeouts across his last 132⁄3 innings.

Deaton’s consistency has somewhat masked King’s struggles with putaway pitches. King started the team’s opening-night win against Stony Brook but since has neglected to command his breaking ball used to elicit swing-and-miss strike threes.

With that stout bullpen added to the rotation, McNeese’s 1.53 earned-run average in its six conference games is the lowest of any Southland school through the schedule’s first two series, settling the staff into more pronounced assignments Hill said he expected to develop as the season progressed.

“It’s almost like everyone in the stands knows this is happening,” Hill joked. “As the roles develop and things become a little bit more consistent with our routine, we’ve got a pretty good idea of how the game is going to play out.”

But as Hill alluded to, the weekend’s focus may lie with the offense. All of Nicholls’ three probable starting pitchers hold opponents to batting averages below .295. Its closer, Adam Tarver, has 17 strikeouts in 15 innings to go along with three saves.

“They have low-scoring ballgames and we typically have higher scoring ballgames,” Hill said. “I think it’ll be a challenge, I don’t think there’s going to be any doubt. It’s almost like it’s every day, can you do what you do better than what the other team does better. That’s what it’s all about. You win your games with your strengths and we know what our issues are.”