Jim Gazzolo, Special to the American Press

With their bats leading the way, the McNeese State Cowboys will try to keep their hot streak going when they travel to play Houston Baptist this weekend.

Riding a five-game winning streak, McNeese (9-6, 3-0 SLC) opens a four-game Southland Conference series against the struggling Huskies (2-13, 0-4) at 2 p.m. today. Houston Baptist has lost its last five.

McNeese is coming off its best offensive game of the year, picking up season highs in both runs and hits with 16 each Tuesday against LSU-Alexandria. That came after the Cowboys had swept past Texas A&M-Corpus Christi last weekend to open league play.

With the wind expected to blow in and no night games, head coach Justin Hill is planning on a different strategy against the Huskies.

“Last week was kind of like guerrilla warfare, hide in the bushes and come out and fight,” Hill said. “This week we will be like the British army — we are going to line up in ranks and go fight.”

Some of those ranks will be missing. Hill said starting catcher Brett Whelton is not expected to play because of a shoulder injury and designated hitter Tre Obregon will miss at least the first game while in concussion protocol.

Obregon is fourth in the Southland in hitting at .408.

“We got our own problems,” Hill said. “These are the cards we are dealt and we have to figure out how we can play with this hand. We are going to have to be very good card players this year.”

Right-hander Christian Vega (0-1, 5.17 ERA) will open the series for McNeese. He will be opposed by righty Tyler Zarella (0-3, 10.24). Will Dion (1-2, 3.86), the McNeese ace, will throw in Saturday’s first game, returning to the rotation after serving last weekend as the club’s closer. He will face Jacob Coats (0-2, 6.75).

Lefty Ty Abraham (1-0, 3.86) will get the Huskies’ Austin Spinney (0-2, 5.68) in Saturday’s second game.

“This is their first home series; they have played some really tough teams,” Hill said of the Huskies. “(The) team that makes the fewest mistakes is the team that will get ahead.”

The Huskies are averaging 3.15 runs a game while allowing seven. Catcher Todd Jackson (.381) is HBU’s top hitter, including 7-for-10 in conference play.

Clayton Rasbeary leads McNeese with a .417 average, good for third in the league. He has 13 RBIs.McNeese baseball