Down by six runs after four innings, no problem for these Cowboys.

McNeese extended the longest winning streak in the nation to an even dozen Sunday behind the biggest comeback of the season.

Fueled by a pair of 3-run homers, the Cowboys rallied to score the final 13 runs in a 14-7 victory over Incarnate Word in San Antonio.

The 12-game streak is the longest in program history, breaking the old mark set in 1989 and 1988. 

Sunday’s win completed a Southland Conference sweep of the Cardinals in Sullivan Stadium and raised the McNeese record to 27-5, 14-4. Coupled with Houston Christian’s loss to Northwestern State, the Cowboys are now in a 3-way tie for first with the Huskies and Southeastern.

“The streak is what the streak is,” said McNeese head coach Justin Hill. “It’s fun to see how our kids never felt like they were out of it. They just kept working.”

During the streak, McNeese has outscored its opponents 126-50. 

“When you have done what we have done this year, you have to have done things in a lot of different ways,” said Hill.

Sunday, it was Cowboy power that led the way. 

Mack Brousseau’s 3-run blast in the seventh gave McNeese the lead for good at 9-7. It came on reliever Hunter Hargett’s first offering and was Brousseau’s fifth of the season.

Marcus Heusohn followed in the eighth with his 3-runner, the third of his season that finished the scoring. Jake Blackwell struck out four of the six batters he faced over the last two innings to close things out for McNeese.

Simon Larranaga started the Cowboys’ power surge with his team-high ninth home run in the sixth, a 2-run drive to left that cut the UIW (15-24, 2-19) lead to just 7-6.

“That’s when I felt like we were coming on strong,” said Hill. “We have the capability to hit for power; it’s just a matter of getting the right people going at the right time.”

Conner Westenburg finished off a big series with a huge day. Westenburg went 4-for-4 with two triples, scored four runs, and drove in two.

For the series, Westenburg was 10-for-14 (.715) with eight runs scored and six driven home. He had at least three hits in all three games.

“Conner played great all weekend,” said Hill. “He’s the one that gets us going.”

A poor start and some timely hitting by the Cardinals saw McNeese down 7-1 after four innings.

“We had gotten off to a bad start,” said Hill. “We didn’t play well, and they are a good hitting team over there.

“You know, at some point, the streak will end, but you want to play good baseball when it happens. But we were able to hold them down and peck away.”

Right-hander Paul Coppinger was one of four relievers who threw the final five innings without allowing a run for McNeese. He picked up the victory to raise his record to 2-0.

Easton Dowell stayed hot, extending his hitting streak to 12 games with an RBI single in the eighth. 

The Cowboys will try to keep their winning ways going Tuesday in a very tough spot. They travel to Baton Rouge for a game against No. 3 LSU, which will likely drop in the polls after suffering a weekend sweep at the hands of Auburn.