Riding an eight-game winning streak, the McNeese State baseball team heads to Houston for its first road games.

The Cowboys will face Houston Christian for three games starting Friday night. Both are coming off sweeps last weekend to open Southland Conference play.

McNeese (10-1, 3-0) beat defending champion Nicholls three times in Lake Charles, while the Huskies (7-3, 3-0) swept past Incarnate Word in San Antonio.

Southeastern and Texas-Rio Grande Valley are the other unbeaten teams entering the second week of league action. 

“They are playing really good with a new coach,” said McNeese head coach Justin Hill. “They got some good players from the portal and have really turned things around.”

The Cowboys used a 12-run sixth inning Tuesday to defeat Dillard 19-6 in their mid-week game. It was their second-straight run-rule-shortened victory, and the offense has picked up lately.

Conner Westenburg hit a pair of home runs to lead the onslaught as the Cowboys continued their best start since 1991.

“We felt good about our offense all along,” said Hill. “We had good at-bats, we just didn’t have good results. This is a good hitting team.”

The Cowboys’ pitching staff has fueled their success. McNeese leads the conference with a 2.37 earned run average, almost a full run better than No. 2 UTRGV. 

McNeese has allowed just 25 earned runs and only one homer in the early going, both tops in the Southland. The Cowboys have also struck out 119, which also leads the league.

“We have a lot of guys who can throw the ball,” said junior left-hander Jake Blackwell. “We just go out there and try to throw strikes.”

Opponents are hitting just .216 against McNeese. The Cowboys have allowed more than three runs just three times.

“Those guys have kept us in every game,” said Hill. “They all like to compete.”

Senior lefty Alexis Gravel (2-0) will get the start in Game 1 of the series. He has allowed just one and eight hits in his 16 innings. He has struck out 25 and has a 0.56 ERA, both good for second in the conference.

The Huskies will likely counter with Joshua Caravalho, a 6-foot-7 right-hander from Oral Roberts, who is 3-0 in the early going. He has a 1.59 ERA with 13 strikeouts in 17 innings.

Designated Hitter Parker Edwards is coming off a big weekend for HCU, where he hit three home runs and was named SLC Hitter of the Week.

“Every weekend in this league is going to be a fistfight,” said Hill. “This is an extremely competitive baseball conference.”