McNeese State concluded pre-conference play with an 8-5 win over the University of Southern Mississippi Wednesday night at Joe Miller Field, building a big early lead then holding off a late Golden Eagles rally.

McNeese (13-14) manufactured a run in the first inning. Josie Willingham reached on an error, stole second and scored on a two-out single to left by clean-up hitter Crislyne Moreno.

The Cowgirls followed a similar script while breaking the game open with six runs scoring with two outs in the second inning. The Cowgirls batted around in

The inning, getting a two-run single from Alayis Seneca to score Chloe Gomez and Kendall Talley, another two-run single from Jil Poullard to score Seneca and Willingham and another RBI single from Moreno to score Poullard. Moreno scored on a single by Kennedy Reynolds.

USM got on the board with a pair of runs in the fourth inning. Alyssa Davis singled and scored on a hit by Scout Jennings, who came around to score on a wild pitch.

The Eagles moved within 7-5 on the fifth inning on a three-run home run to dead center by Destini Brown. The Eagles threatened further damage, but Shaelyn Sanders induced an inning-ending double play to preserve the Cowgirls lead.

McNeese added an insurance run in the sixth when Talley led off with an infield single and scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Willingham.

Talley reached base on all three appearances with two hits and a walk. Seneca Poullard and Moreno had two hits each.

Shaelyn Sanders pitched the first three innings and retuned in the fifth to close the game out. She didn’t allow any runs and struck out three batters in 5⅔innings.

The Cowgirls open Southland Conference play Friday with a three-game series at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.