Dion’s record strikeout night for Cowboys in Joe Miller Ball Park homecoming

LAKE CHARLES – McNeese starting pitcher Will Dion made McNeese baseball’s return to Joe Miller Ball Park a record-setting one as the Sulphur native tied a school record with 19 strikeouts in leading the Cowboys to a 5-0 complete-game shutout win over Prairie View in the first game of a four-game weekend series.

“It’s great to be home,” said head coach Justin Hill. “We talked about it as a team. It was almost like a haze, surreal. I’m glad we had Will Dion going tonight. It allowed us to settle in. I’m proud of how we played. We played good on defense and we put some good swings on the ball.”

The series will continue with a Saturday double-header beginning at 2 p.m. and will then conclude with a 1 o’clock start on Sunday.

Dion (1-1) was cruising through the first four innings, striking out eight of the 12 batters faced while spotting 35 of his first 40 pitches in the strike zone.

Praire View put runners on base in just two innings in the game – the fifth on a walk to Christian Mendez that snapped Dion’s run of 13 straight batters retired, then one of just three hits allowed in the game by Dion. The Panthers got two runners on base in the ninth before Dion struck out the final two batters to give him 19 in the game and tying the school’s single-game record that was set by former MLB pitcher and McNeese Hall of Fame member Terry Burrows in 1990.

Dion struck out the side in three innings and fanned two batters in an inning four times.

“I felt good in the beginning and knew it was going to be a grind,” said Dion who retired the first batter in every inning. “I’m all about first pitch strikes. If I can get the first pitch strike over I fell like it’s going to be a quick inning.”

The Cowboys put 10 hits on the board with half of those going for extra bases.

Payton Harden ended the night 3 for 4 with an RBI and run scored and hit one of three triples for the Cowboys. Clayton Rasbeary added a 2 for 3 night with a double, triple and three RBIs. Brett Whelton also had a triple and finished with two hits while Peyton Johnson added two hits and a RBI.

McNeese threatened in the first inning when Harden legged out an infield single off a dribbler to third. He then stole second but when Rasbeary’s fly ball to center field carried over the defender’s head for a double, Harden was thrown out at the plate on a center-shortstop-catcher relay.

The Cowboys got on the board in the third on a Rasbeary sacrifice fly that scored Kade Morris.

Two innings later, Rasbeary knocked in Harden and Nate Fisbeck on a deep ball triple that appeared to have cleared the bottom wall but bounced back into play.

“I rounded first and was waiting to see the umpire wave it a home run but he didn’t so I kept running,” said Rasbeary. “I pleaded with him but it didn’t work. We still got the run anyway.”

In the sixth, Whelton led off with a triple in the deep section of right-center field then scored when Johnson hit a solid single to right field to make it a 4-0 game. Morris reached on a one out fielder’s choice and scored on Harden’s triple to put the Cowboys up 5-0.

As Dion kept dealing, the defense was doing its part as well with Fisbeck, Rasbeary and Julian Gonzales making remarkable sliding catches to keep the Panthers off the bases.

The series will continue on Saturday at 2 p.m. with the first game of a double-header.