A great throw and replay review changed the Cowboys’ fortunes in their series opener against Lamar on Friday night.

With pinch-runner Bryce Fontenot racing toward third, Lamar right fielder Damien Ruiz came up throwing after he picked up Larry Edwards’ single.

According to third base umpire Danny Bouchillon, Fontenot slid ahead of the tag. The Cowboys, down a run in the bottom of the 10th, McNeese looked to be in business with nobody out.

But after a replay review, Fontenot was called out, and the Cowboys never recovered, falling 8-7 in their first extra-inning game of the season.

The loss dropped McNeese to 12-4 overall and 4-3 in the Southland Conference. Lamar improved to 15-5, 3-4.

“I didn’t think we played particularly well tonight,” said McNeese head coach Justin Hill. “I thought we competed well but didn’t play well.”

The Cowboys fell behind early and trailed 7-3 heading into the bottom before rallying back.

Home runs by Conner Westernburg and Grant Mangrum led McNeese, which finished with 14 hits.

However, the Cowboys committed three errors and walked eight, including one by Sergio Lopez to start the Lamar 10th. Lopez, who picked up his first loss after three wins and three saves, walked two in the inning.

Three of the Cardinal runs were unearned.

Zane Spinn drove in Brayden Evans from third on a sacrifice fly for the winning run. 

Westenburg finished with three hits, including his fourth homer of the season and an RBI triple. He also scored a run on a balk.

Westenburg homered in the third to get the Cowboys on the board. His blast went 416 feet over the scoreboard in left.

Mangrum hit his first homer of the year to cut the Lamar lead to 4-3 in the fourth. 

Game 2 of the series will be Saturday at 2 p.m. at Joe Miller Ballpark.