Houston bests McNeese in extra inning battle

HOUSTON – After a midweek battle went into extra innings, McNeese Baseball (21-22, 5-10 SLC) fell to Houston (23-22, 6-15 Big 12) in the 10th inning 9-8 at Schroeder Park Wednesday night.

McNeese was electric out of the gate, plating five runs in the first two innings to take a commanding lead. Elliot Hebert, a senior, drove in the first two runs of the initial frame on a double with an out on the board. Sophomore Braley Hollins sent a sacrifice fly out to right center to bring in Hebert in return.

Two more runs were scored by the Pokes in the second inning on an RBI single by junior Simon Larranaga followed up by a sacrifice fly in the next at-bat. Redshirt freshman Easton Dowell crossed home first followed by Grant Mangrum, a junior, shortly after.

Houston plated three runs in the fourth inning to cut into McNeese’s 5-3 advantage.

After a couple silent innings, the Cowboys started up the scoring trend once more in the top of the fifth. Dowell earned his second hit of the evening, a double down the left field line, to drive in Hollins to make it a 6-3 game.

Redshirt senior Chase Keeton earned an RBI walk in the top of the sixth for the seventh run of the outing. Senior Cooper Hext scored on the bases-loaded walk to extend the lead. An inning later, the Pokes plated their eighth run of the evening on a sacrifice fly by Hebert to bring in Mangrum.

The Cougars battled back in the bottom of the seventh with a five-run inning to tie it up 8-8 at the ballpark, ultimately forcing extra innings. Houston claimed the win in the bottom of the 10th on a wild pitch.

The Cowboys continue their four-game road trip against Southland foe Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Friday through Sunday at Chapman Field.

Pitching Appearances
Daelan Caraway: 2.0 IP, 3 K’s, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 ER
Alexis Gravel: 1.0 IP, 0 K, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 ER
Kainin Morrow: 1.0 IP, 1 K, 4 H, 0 BB, 3 ER
Brock Barthelemy: 2.0 IP, 2 K’s, 2 H, 0 BB, 0 ER
Max Swenson: 0.1 IP, 0 K, 2 H, 1 BB, 3 ER
Brian Shadrick: 0.1 IP, 0 K, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 ER
JT Moeller: 0.1 IP, 0 K, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 ER
Cameron LeJeune: 1.0 IP, 0 K, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 ER
Evan Maldonado: 1.2 IP, 2 K’s, 0 H, 2 BB, 1 ER

McNeese Notes
• Daelan Caraway made his third start of the 2024 campaign.
• Caraway tied his season-high for strikeouts in a game.
• Kainin Morrow made his 20th appearance of the season.
• JT Moeller made his 20th appearance of the season.
• The Pokes have collected 6+hits in 35 games this season.
• Nine pitchers are the most used by McNeese this season.
• Hitting Streaks: Elliot Hebert (9 games), Grant Mangrum (6 games), Conner Westenburg (5 games)
• Multi-Hit Games: Conner Westenburg (14th), Grant Mangrum (9th), Easton Dowell (7th), Elliot Hebert (7th), Simon Larranaga (6th), Braley Hollins (3rd)