Jim Gazzolo, Special to the American Press

The gloom and drizzle that hung over Joe Miller Ballpark Saturday only added to the feeling in the McNeese State dugout after Stephen F. Austin swept a doubleheader from the Cowboys.

Entering the weekend in first place in the Southland Conference and with a strong offense, the Cowboys now find themselves looking to avoid a four-game series sweep.

McNeese (12-10, 6-4 SLC) lost the first game of Saturday’s twinbill 5-2 and 4-3. SFA, which is riding a season-best four-game winning streak, won Friday’s series opener 8-5 in 10 innings.

“We have had a bad 24 hours,” said McNeese head coach Justin Hill. “Baseball is like that,” he continued. “When you play 40 league games you are going to go through times like this.”

The hardest part to swallow in Game 2 was how SFA (7-12, 5-6) scored. Two of the runs reached base by way of leadoff walks. A third came on a catcher’s interference call.

“Everything kind of went against us today,” Hill said. “Give them credit, they made the plays when they had to. They are playing with confidence and playing well right now. We have to find a way to turn it around.”

The winning blow was a two-out single to right in the top of the ninth by Jordan Monacy, which drove home pinch runner Ky Campbell from third. That came after the Cowboys’ Nate Fisbeck’s two-run single in the bottom of the eighth tied the score at 3-3.

Fisbeck got McNeese on the board with a solo home run to start the seventh inning, cutting the Lumberjacks lead to 2-1. It was his second homer of the season. The Lumberjacks added a run in the top of the eighth on Garre Goetz’s two-out double.

Fisbeck’s line-shot homer ended a 19-inning stretch over three games that saw the Cowboys score two runs on five hits.

“Their pitching has been good,” Hill said. “They are pitching with the lead and with confidence. They are challenging us.”

SFA got on the board first when Skyler Black hit a two-run homer in the third. It was Black’s third homer of the season and second of the series.

Kevin Roliard (1-2) took the loss in relief. Tod Gauthe picked up his first win of the season with Benny Emmons earning his first save.

In the first game, SFA touched McNeese lefty Will Dion for four runs in the fourth. Dion (2-3) entered the inning without giving up a hit and locked in a scoreless tie.

Will Long broke the no-hitter up with a leadoff double and when Kad Clemens drove in a pair of runs with a single. A few moments later, the Lumberjacks had a 4-0 lead and all the runs they would need.

They added a run in the fifth on a wild pitch. Dion finished allowing five runs on six hits while striking five over five innings.

Clayton Rasbeary broke up Joe Todd’s shutout bid with a solo home run to open the sixth for McNeese. It was Rasbeary’s third of the season. He and Tré Obregon finished with two hits apiece.

McNeese scored the game’s final run on a Reid Bourque sacrifice fly to right later in the sixth.

Todd (1-2) struck out five while going six innings. Chand Poell had an uneventful seventh to earn his first save of the season.

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NOTES: The series will conclude today with a 1 p.m. start. McNeese is scheduled to start redshirt senior Christian Vega, who was moved to Sunday in the rotation after pitching the last two weeks on Friday. Vega (0-1, 6.87 ERA) will be opposed by Joseph Sgambelluri (0-1, 6.0). … SFA’s Black has been hit by a pitch in each of the first three games in the series. … Obregon, who entered the weekend the league’s top hitter, was injured in the first game Saturday and could only pinch hit in the second due to a sore oblique. His status for today was unknown.

McNeese State shortstop Reid Bourque applies the tag on Stephen F. Austin’s Bryan Burgos attempting to steal second base during a Southland Conference doubleheader Saturday at Joe Miller Ballpark.

Rick Hickman / American Press