Time now to make move, Cowboys in middle of SLC pack down home stretch
Published 7:00 pm Friday, May 7, 2021
Jim Gazzolo, Special to the American Press
Still searching for consistency, McNeese State hits the road in hopes of finding its rhythm as the season reaches the stretch drive.
The Cowboys will look to climb in the Southland Conference standings this weekend when they travel to Natchitoches to play Northwestern State in a four-game series starting with a doubleheader at 3 p.m. today.
The series schedule change comes as rain is expected on Sunday. The teams will play two games today, the first scheduled for seven innings. Will Dion (5-4, 3.88 ERA) will take the hill against righthander Johnathan Harmon (4-2, 4.53). In the nightcap Bryson Hudgens (0-1, 3.09) will take on the Demons’ Cal Carver (5-4, 3.09) in a nine-inning game.
Single games are set for Saturday and Sunday, but that could change to a doubleheader on one of those days depending on the weather.
The Demons (22-20, 16-12, SLC) are a game and a half ahead of the Cowboys (21-23, 14-13) in the standings. McNeese is tied with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for sixth place entering today’s play.
“It is time for us to make a move,” McNeese head coach Justin Hill said. “The goal is to win the league, but you also want to make sure you make it to the tournament.”
The top eight teams earn a spot in the season-ending tourney. McNeese won the last one in 2019. Last year’s tournament was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Really, we just want to play good baseball,” Hill said. “Having them ahead of us in the standings gives us a chance to jump a spot or two with a big weekend. But we have to play well to do that.
“We have played really good this year and we have played really bad.”
McNeese is starting to get healthy, getting back Tré Obregon, Jake Dickerson and Brett Whelton last weekend when the Cowboys split with New Orleans.
“They are all here in body but not 100 percent,” Hill said. “We will have to see how they do but we are hoping they all can play some this weekend.”
The Cowboys have found another offensive weapon in Nate Collins, who went 4-for-5 in the UNO series finale, including hitting his first home run of the season. Collins leads McNeese with a .421 average.
There is also Oregano at .365 and Clayton Rasbeary hitting .361. Nate Fisbeck (.327) has 45 runs batted in to lead the Cowboys.
However, the pitching staff suffered through a weekend of ups and downs last series, walking 33 hitters in four games but also showed some solid efforts. One of those was Cameron Foster, who threw twice over the weekend and picked up his third save.
“It has been a real journey for him,” Hill said. “He has been put in the fire.”
Foster looks like he is becoming the McNeese closer after a strong showing against UNO.
McNeese’s Will Dion pitches against Incarnate Word during the 1st game of a double header at Cowboy Diamond in Lake Charles, Louisiana on Saturday, April 10, 2021. (AP Photo/Lake Charles American Press, Kirk Meche)
