Cowboys win series with 4-3 victory over AMCC on Saturday

LAKE CHARLES – Payton Harden had a triple and two doubles and McNeese starting pitcher Burrell Jones allowed two runs in six innings as the two helped lead the Cowboys to a 4-3 win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in Saturday’s series finale.

McNeese (20-11, 4-5 SLC) became the first team from the Southland Conference to reach the 20-win mark as it captured its first league series 2-games-to-1. AMCC fell to 14-19 overall and 2-4 in conference play.

Making his third start of the season, Jones improved to 3-0 on the season after a solid outing on the mound where he struck out four batters while allowing eight hitsf and walked only one. He allowed the Islanders to score single runs in the first two innings but shut them down the next four.

Trailing 2-0 in the third inning, Harden hit an RBI triple that scored Taylor Darden and put the Cowboys on the board. Brad Burckel then knocked in Harden with a grounder to the right side that tied the game 2-2. Josh Leslie then hit a double to right field and after the second out, Tré Obregon III put the Cowboys up 3-2 with a run-scoring double.

In the seventh, Harden hit a two-out double to centerfield then scored on Burckel’s single to make it a 4-2 lead.

The Islanders added a run in the top of the eighth off reliever Christian Vega. JT Moeller picked up his first save after he threw two innings and allowed only one hit and no runs.

AMCC starting pitcher Colin Purcell (2-3) took the loss after he threw 6.2 innings and gave up all four runs on nine hits, walked none and struck out three.

The Cowboys bats put 11 hits on the board with Harden and Leslie each collecting three. Obregon added a two-hit game. Five of the 11 hits went for extra bases.

McNeese will be back in action on Tuesday when it hosts Louisiana Christian at 6 p.m. then will visit Rice on Wednesday night before continuing Southland play next weekend at Southeastern Louisiana.