For three quarters of the season, McNeese State was the surprise of college baseball. 

Not just the Southland Conference, but nationally.

The Cowboys were riding a 12-game winning streak with a 27-5 record. They were deep in the race for the Southland Conference title.

There was even talk that they could still get a second NCAA Tournament bid if they didn’t win the league.

However, the Cowboys stumbled down the stretch, finishing 5-12 over the last 17 games and 32-17 overall. They ended up in a three-way tie for third but earned the fifth seed with tiebreakers.

McNeese’s season ended heartbreakingly with a loss to co-champion Southeastern, which rallied and won in the top of the ninth. It was a disappointing finish to what had been so promising a month earlier.

“We are still figuring out and going over what all happened,” said McNeese head coach Justin Hill. “We are still processing everything. I can say this, the guys gave me everything they had. Sometimes things happen in baseball.”

Injuries to ace lefty Alexis Gravel and reliever Paul Coppinger put an extra strain on the pitching staff down the stretch, as the Cowboys struggled to close out games. 

“There were not a lot of easy games all year,” said Hill. “We played a lot of stressful innings and games. Every game seemed to be close.

“We won a lot of those early and lost a lot of those late.”

While the end was tough, most of the season was good for the Cowboys. With many new faces, McNeese played a pretty exciting brand of baseball.

They won 30 games for the 10th time in Hill’s 12 seasons, with 2020 being cut to just 17 games by COVID. It was the Cowboys’ 11th winning season under Hill, so there are a lot of positives as well.

“We had some really good moments this season,” said Hill. “When we struggled, we ran out of time to fix them.”

McNeese had two players earn top league honors. Gravel was named to the Southland Conference’s second team. 

Outfielder Conner Westenburg had a big senior year, earning first-team honors and being named to the Southland’s all-defensive team. Westenburg finished with a .322 batting average and nine triples, which is still tied for the lead in the nation.

Redshirt sophomore Easton Dowell flirted most of the season with a .400 average before slipping to a team-high .369 at the end. Dowell is one of the Cowboys who had big years after seeing limited playing time in the past.

Transfer Larry Edwards topped McNeese in runs batted in with 47 as he came up with more than his share of big hits. 

The Cowboys now enter an offseason of change with new roster sizes about to go into place.