Baseball showdown in Texas
McNeese's Conner Westenburg leads the nation in triples with nine. (Photo by Richard Martin/McNeese Athletics)
Edinburg, Texas, sounds like the perfect town to host a showdown.
It will do just that this weekend when the Cowboys ride into town for a huge three-game series.
McNeese State will take on Southland Conference newcomer Texas-Rio Grande Valley with at least a share of first place on the line.
The series starts Friday at 6:30 p.m. with an expected crowd of over 4,000 on hand.
'This is exciting,' said McNeese head coach Justin Hill. 'These are the types of games you want to play in and in these types of settings.'
The Cowboys enter the series tied with Southeastern for first place with nine games remaining, just a half game ahead of the Vaqueros (26-14, 17-7). McNeese is 29-8, 16-5.
SELA will be at Houston Christian for its weekend series against the fourth-place Huskies, who are just two games out. The four clubs are in the chase for hosting one of the two postseason pods.
'This is the time when you have to play your best,' said Hill. 'The team that plays the game better is the likely winner.'
Both teams head into the series coming off midweek losses. McNeese fell to Louisiana Christian on Tuesday, while UTRGV fell to Incarnate Word in a non-conference game.
'We have to flush that game quick,' said Hill. 'We have been good all year doing that and getting focused on what is next.'
He believes his club will be ready for the challenge.
'This is what you want, to play in this type of series with championship aspirations,' said Hill. 'We have given ourselves this chance, so we have to enjoy it.
'This is going to be a great setting for us to go play in,' said Hill. 'We are excited about the opportunity.'
Hill knows it will be the little things that make a big difference in winning games down the stretch.
'These are important games,' said Hill. 'This is the time of year when you have to play winning baseball, clean baseball. You can't give up extra outs and hope to beat good teams.'
McNeese will start left-hander Cooper Golden, who is 2-2 with a 5.87 earned run average. He will be facing fellow lefty Victor Loa, the Southland ERA leader at 2.01, and has a 5-1 record in 10 starts.
Alexis Gravel (2-2, 3.98) will go for the Cowboys in Game 2 Saturday night against Wyatt Wiatrek (6-0, 3.69). Neither team has announced a starter for Sunday's series finale.
'They have really strong pitching and play the game right,' said Hill. 'This is going to be a tough series.'
The Cowboys have been playing relatively clean, having won 15 of their last 17 games, including five consecutive SLC series wins. They have only lost one of those all season.
Leading McNeese into the series will be shortstop Easton Dowell. The redshirt sophomore tops the league in hitting with a .414 average and is coming off a huge weekend that earned him Hitter of the Week honors in the SLC.
Dowell was 8-for-12 as McNeese jumped into first by taking two of three from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Dowell had three doubles and a home run in the series.
Senior Conner Westenburg also had a solid series and tops the conference in stolen bases. He also leads the nation in triples with nine.
McNeese even got a boost from the return of Sergio Lopez. Perhaps the team's best pitcher, Lopez, missed four weeks with a non-baseball injury and didn't look like he missed a beat.
He got the win Sunday, throwing 4⅓ innings of shutout ball.
Lopez may give the Cowboys an extra bullet for this showdown.
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