No field plays so differently depending on the wind as Joe Miller Ballpark.

Friday, it played right into the hands of the visitors.

Using five home runs in the first six innings, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi powered past the Cowboys 13-5 to even their Southland Conference weekend series. 

The Islanders entered the game with just 14 homers on the season.

“Credit them, they made us pay for our mistakes and they made us earn everything,” said McNeese head coach Justin Hill. “We didn’t play very well and that’s what happens when you don’t.”

The loss was the first for McNeese State in its last 10 league games and just the third at home in 23 outings. It dropped the Cowboys to 28-7 overall and 15-5 in the league.

McNeese fell a full game off the pace of Texas-Rio Grande Valley in the race for the Southland title with the defeat. UTRGV played at second-place Southeastern later Friday evening.

The Islanders (14-25, 6-14) started things off early when Jarrett Flaggert hit the first home run three batters into the game. His two-run shot off of McNeese starter Alexis Gravel was the third baseman’s second of the season and set the tone for the rest of the afternoon.

Gravel lasted just three innings in his worst start of the season. He allowed seven runs, three of them earned, on five hits as his record fell to 4-2 

“Alexis was O.K.,” said Hill. “We didn’t help him out either. This is the first time in a long time our bullpen didn’t come through.”

An error on shortstop Easton Dowell proved real costly in the Islanders’ four-run third. Dowell’s high throw opened the door for Corpus, which got a three-run homer from Cade Sanchez, his second of the season. When Chance Reisndorf led off the fourth for the Islanders with his second of the year, the lead was 7-3, and Gravel’s day was done.

While Dowell had a tough time in the field, he continued to stay hot at the plate. He hit one of two Cowboy home runs, his sixth of the season, in the second. He also ripped a double in the eighth to finish 2-for-4 and raise his batting average to .417, tops in the league.

The redshirt sophomore is 5-for-9 in the series.

Mack Brousseau hit the other McNeese homer, a solo shot in the sixth, but that only cut the lead to 12-4. It was Brousseau’s sixth of the season as well. 

Karson Krowka and Jackson Smith hit the other two home runs for Corpus Christi. Krowka gave the Islanders a 9-3 lead with a two-run shot in the fifth for his first of the season. 

Smith hit his second in two nights and fourth of the year with a three-run blast in the sixth that put the game away. Smith’s home run to center gave the Islanders a 12-3 lead. 

Smith finished with two hits and four runs batted in to lead Corpus Christi’s 12-hit attack. Left-hander Zach Garcia worked seven innings and allowed just four runs on seven hits to even his record to 4-4. He struck out five and walked nobody.

“This one is over and we have to bounce back,” said Hill. “This is when you are playing for a championship and the pressure is different. We will be all right.”

The two teams will finish the series today at 1 p.m.

Making a rare start at second base, Conner Schneider went 4-for-4 for the Cowboys while Marcus Heushon finished 2-for-4 with a triple.