It’s from one I-10 rival to the next for the McNeese State baseball team.

The Cowboys will again wear red this weekend. They used a 4-2 win Wednesday night to sweep the season series from Louisiana-Lafayette for the first time since 2003.

McNeese will host Lamar in the baseball Battle of the Border starting Friday at 6 p.m. in Joe Miller Ballpark. It is an early big Southland Conference series between teams hoping to make a run at the championship.

The Cowboys are 4-2 in the league and 12-3 overall, while the Cardinals enter the three-game set 14-5 and 2-4. Lamar was voted the preseason favorite in the conference.

“They are a very good baseball team,” McNeese head coach Justin Hill said of the Cardinals. “Everybody in this league is pretty good. It will depend on how you play that weekend, which will matter.”

The Southland entered the week ranked fourth in the nation among conferences in baseball. 

“We have a lot of good coaches and good players in our league,” said Hill. “Each weekend is going to be a fight. Each will be different.”

The Cowboys found that out last weekend.

After sweeping Nicholls at home to begin league play, the Cowboys lost the first two at Houston Christian last weekend. They rallied by winning the finale Sunday before Wednesday’s win at Lafayette.

Sophomore Seth Fontenot had two hits in the win over the Cajuns. Cooper Golden earned his first win, while freshman Brady Corcoran picked up his first career save.

“To see how our guys responded and handled things was great,” said Hill. “It wasn’t that we didn’t play well in Houston, but they played better. You have to credit our guys for fighting back.”

Lamar will be the next challenge. The Cardinals lead the league in hitting at .327 and scored 152 runs in 19 games. McNeese has 93 runs in 15 games.

“They have a lot of really good hitters over there and will be a test for our pitchers,” said Hill. 

The Cardinals have three players in the Southland’s top six in hitting, all with averages over .400. Heladio Moreno leads the way for Lamar at .419.

That will be the test for a McNeese pitching staff that has been good to start the season. Left-hander Alexis Gravel will get the Game 1 start, with the rest of the weekend still to be decided.

Gravel is 2-1 with a 2.21 earned run average in four starts. Reliever Sergio Lopez has three wins and three saves with just a 0.51 ERA.

Transfer Larry Edwards tops the McNeese offense with a .367 average.

Game 2 is set for Saturday at 2 p.m., with the series finale scheduled for 4 p.m. Sunday.