During the first road game of the college baseball season, a pair of Cowboys hit their way into the record book.

Payton Harden and Brad Burckel used a trip back to their home state to make history.

The two native Texans broke three all-time McNeese State records during an 18-6 loss at Sam Houston State Tuesday night, extending the Cowboys’ losing streak to three games.

Harden set two school records in Huntsville, setting career marks for hits and runs scored. Burckel broke the all-time hitting streak when he singled in the first inning to extend his number to 25 dating to last season.

“It is awesome,” Burckel said. “I was glad to get it over early. It was on my mind all day.”

Both Harden and Burckel finished the night with two hits, but it was the one in the first that made McNeese’s second baseman the streak leader.

“It was a little weird to do it over two seasons,” Burckel said. “I didn’t even know about it until I read it before this season.”

Burckel broke Joe Hullet’s record set in the 2007 season.

Harden surpassed Joe Provenzano’s hit total when he singled up the middle in the third inning, giving him 255. He added another hit in the fifth.

On both occasions he came around to score, which gave him 167 runs scored for his career and broke Reid Bourque’s career total set last season.

“It was amazing to get it in Texas,” Harden said. “It would have been nice at home, but to do it in Texas it was just meant to be.”

Now the Cowboys (1-3) look to get going when they travel to play Texas-Arlington (1-4) in a three-game series starting tonight.

The Mavericks have struggled, osing four of their first five, including a pair last weekend to the Southland Conference’s Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

“We still have to figure some things out when the scoreboard is on,” McNeese head coach Justin Hill said. “We are a better team than we have shown.”

McNeese will send ace right-hander Grant Rogers (1-0, 0.00 ERA) to the hill to start the series. Rogers, last season’s SLC Pitcher of the Year, went six scoreless innings and allowed two hits while striking out eight in the Cowboys’ win last week over Creighton

For his work Rogers was named the league’s Pitcher of the Week. The Mavericks are expected to counter with righty Gabe Starks (0-0, 16.87), who worked 22/3 in their season opener but didn’t get a decision.

Burckel (.400) leads the Cowboys with six hits in 15 at-bats, three of those being doubles. Harden is next hitting .267.

“We have a couple of things we still need to work on,” Burckel said. “We have a new team in a lot of places.”

Second baseman Matt Cavanagh (.444) leads the Mavericks in hitting.

Right-handers Derrick Cherry (1-0, 0.00) and Zach Voss (0-1, 3.00) will each make their second starts of the season Saturday and Sunday, respectively.