It has not been the best of seasons for Peyton LeJeune.

Like the Cowboy offense itself, LeJeune struggled early and often.

But just like the rest of McNeese State, LeJeune has strong down the stretch.

Thursday LeJeune found his swing, blasting a pair of two-run homers to lead the Cowboys into the semifinals of the Southland Conference Tournament in Hammond.

LeJeune, who entered the game with only three home runs on the season, hit back-to-back blasts when McNeese needed them, driving in the winning runs in a 6-2 victory over Incarnate Word at Pat Kenelly Diamond.

“Those were two big swings for Peyton,” said McNeese head coach Justin Hill.

The victory puts the Cowboys (31-25) just two wins short of a championship and berth in the NCAA Tournament.

McNeese will play the winner of Friday’s rematch between UIW and Lamar. That elimination game will take place at 9 a.m.  with the Cowboys playing the victory at 4 p.m.

UIW upset top-seeded Lamar in the first round 4-3. Lamar won its first elimination battle Thursday 12-5 over Northwestern State.

LeJeune’s first homer broke a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the sixth. LeJeune turned on a 1-1 pitch and blasted it way over the wall in right for his fourth home run of the season.

The shot scored Braden Duhon, who had started the inning with a single and promptly stole second. One out later he was jogging home thanks to LeJeune.

His second homer was a shot just to the left of center and scored Chase Keeton in the eighth for added insurance. That one, his fifth of the season, came after Keeton had started the inning with a perfectly placed bunt single.

LeJeune finished the game 3-for-3 with a walk, scoring twice and driving in four. 

That made a winner out of starting pitcher Alexis Gravel (2-4), who gave up just two runs on three hits while striking out three over six innings. 

“We needed some length today and Alexis pitched the game of his life when we needed it,” said Hill.

Cameron LeJeune pitched the final three innings to earn his sixth save. Cameron LeJeune worked out of bases-loaded jams in both the seventh and ninth innings to make things interesting.

Isaiah Zavala (4-6) took the loss for UIW in 5⅔ innings of action He allowed four earned runs on seven hits with three strikeouts. 

McNeese took the lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third. Elliot Hebert’s double to left scored Cooper Hext after Conner Westenburg’s sacrifice fly one batter earlier started the day’s scoring.

The Cardinals bounced right back to even the game with two runs of their own in the top of the fourth. Daniel Calabrese drove in a run and scored the other for UIW.

“This group will battle,” said Hill. “We get to play another day and we get to sleep in.”