Justin Hill got it right, but he wished he hadn’t.

Two weeks ago, the McNeese State baseball coach said he believed it would take 13 wins for the Cowboys to avoid the play-in game.

Saturday he was proven correct.

McNeese had to watch as a series of events in other games forced them to play Tuesday evening in the Southland Conference Tournament. 

First pitch at Joe Miller Ballpark is expected to be at 6 p.m.

“It is what it is, and we did it to ourselves,” said Hill. “This one is different. It is win or go home. We knew it could happen, so we have been prepping for it.”

The Cowboys will take on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi with the winner moving on to the double-elimination portion of the tourney. McNeese took 2 of 3 from the Islanders during the regular season in Texas.

McNeese, Corpus and Northwestern State. 

The Demons got the fifth and final spot in the tourney by way of their series victory over champion Nicholls to take the tie-breaker.

The Cowboys (33-21) earn the sixth seed despite having the most wins in the conference. 

The winner of Tuesday’s game will take on Nicholls Wednesday. If it is McNeese that game will also likely be played at 6 p.m.

In other Wednesday games, No. 2 Incarnate Word will take on No. 5 Northwestern while No. 3 New Orleans will battle No. 4 Lamar. 

Those game times are to be determined but games will be played starting at 11 a.m. Wednesday.