McNeese sweeps A&M-Corpus Christi with 13-10 victory

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Braden Duhon spurred a four-run 10th inning to lead McNeese Baseball to a 13-10 victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to conclude the three-game sweep at Chapman Field Sunday afternoon. The Cowboys improved to 24-22, 8-10 SLC while the Islanders fell to 21-30, 9-12 SLC.

Both teams brought their offensive games to the diamond to close out the series with six different scoring innings being posted.

Junior Simon Larranaga earned the best outing for the Cowboys with four hits in six at-bats, scoring four runs with four RBIs in the process. He was one of four Pokes to earn multiple hits with senior Cooper Hext collecting three and junior Grant Mangrum and Duhon, a senior, each collecting two.

After carrying a 9-8 lead into the ninth, the Islanders forced extra innings with the Cowboys responding with four runs off an RBI single and three-run home run to ultimately close out the game. A&M-Corpus Christi’s solo home run in the 10th fell just short.

McNeese saw a breakout inning in the seventh with five runs being plated on five hits with one error being committed by the foe. Mangrum was the kickstart to the run with his third hit of the afternoon in the top of the frame. The Islanders scored four runs of their own in the bottom half.

The Cowboys broke the trend after two scoreless innings in the third with the first run of the afternoon. They extended their lead in the fifth with a pair of runs coming home. The Islanders responded with two runs of their own in the bottom of the fifth.

Each team unwilling to yield to the other continued battling on with the Pokes scoring one on an error followed by the Islanders bringing home two in the eighth. The latter tied up the game in the bottom of the ninth with a solo run.

The Pokes return home to take on Southern this upcoming Tuesday, May 7 at Joe Miller Ballpark.

Pitching Appearances
Caleb Strmiska: 4.1 IP, 4 K’s, 4 H, 4 BB, 2 ER
Ty Abraham: 2.0 IP, 1 K, 1 H, 3 BB, 2 ER
JT Moeller: 0.0 IP, 0 K, 3 H, 0 BB, 2 ER
Cameron LeJeune: 3.2 IP, 3 K’s, 4 H, 2 BB, 3 ER, Win

McNeese Notes
• Sixth extra-inning game of 2024.
• Cameron LeJeune collected his sixth victory of the season and fourth in SLC play.
• Elliot Hebert leads the Cowboys with a nine-game hitting streak.
• Conner Westenburg brought his hitting streak to eight games.
• Extending their hitting streaks to four games were Braden Duhon, Simon Larranaga, and Braley Hollins
• Caleb Strmiska made his seventh start of the season.
• JT Moeller made his 21st appearance of the season.
• 38th game with 6+ hits in 2024.
• 17th game with double-digit hits.
• Multi-Hit Games: Cooper Hext (19th), Braden Duhon (15th), Grant Mangrum (11th), Simon Larranaga (9th)