Conner Westenburg hit the first pitch he saw over the fence in left and set the tone for a wild Saturday at windy Joe Miller Ballpark.

Westenbugh’s shot off New Orleans starter Skylar Jones gave McNeese a lead they never entirely lost in the second game of a weekend series. But that didn’t mean things didn’t get interesting.

Westenburg, who reached base five times, also tripled and stole home as the Cowboys won their sixth-straight game overall, 10-8, to claim the Southland Conference series. They will go for the sweep Sunday at 1 p.m.

The victory was the 10th in McNeese’s last 11 games, as the Cowboys improved to 22-5, 10-4 in the league and 18-2 at home. UNO fell to 15-14, 7-10 despite hitting three home runs.

The Cowboys rode the momentum of Friday night’s six-run eighth inning rally that beat the Privateers 8-5 into Saturday.

“We carried that over and into today,” said Westenburg. “Now, it is important to carry this momentum over into tomorrow. A series sweep would be huge for us.

Parker Morgan will get his third start of the season. The right-hander from St. Louis Catholic is 1-0 with a 3.14 earned run average. 

UNO will counter with lefty Zach Longshore, 0-3 with a 10.07 ERA.

“A sweep would be huge,” said Westenburg. “Every game in this league is a fistfight coach (Justin Hill) says. He’s right.”

Saturday was a fight again. Even up 10-5 entering the ninth, the Cowboys watched as Tristan Moore and Collin Husser hit back-to-back home runs to cut the lead to two. A Jahlani Rogers single put the tying run at the plate with nobody out.

Hill turned to lefty Jack Blackwell, who struck out the next three batters to save the victory. It was Blackwell’s second save of the season.

Blackwell was McNeese’s ninth pitcher of the game and third of the ninth.

“The guys held on to the lead, and the bullpen did just enough,” said Hill. “It wasn’t always pretty.”

Westenburg’s home run was his fifth, but he also stole home in the third, racing to the plate after the pitcher turned his back on him.

“You have to have the guts of a burglar to do that,” said Hill.

It was part of a two-run inning that gave McNeese a 3-0 lead. 

UNO rallied to tie with a run in the fourth and two in the fifth before Westenburg tripled in a run and scored ahead of Matt Stancliff’s first home run of the season. Stanfliff had three hits and drove in a pair of runs.

The Privateers cut the lead to 6-5 in the seventh as Bryce Callaway’s 478-foot leadoff homer over the batter’s eye in center field started the inning. It was Callaway’s 11th homer of the season. 

McNeese scored three in the seventh and another in the eighth to grab the 10-5 lead heading into the ninth.

Easton Dowell added two hits to raise his average to .424. Parker Primeaux picked up the win to go to 2-0, while Carson Kimball (1-1) took the loss.