McNeese drops regular season finale 13-6

LAKE CHARLES – Miami University scored six runs in the first inning, three of those unearned off two McNeese errors, as the Redhawks defeated the Cowboys 13-6 on Friday afternoon and ruining the Cowboys’ final regular season game.

The loss dropped McNeese to 33-21 on the season while Miami ends its year at 21-35.

McNeese will now wait to learn its seeding in next week’s Southland Conference tournament. The Cowboys can still finish as high as fourth and as low as seventh, depending on how other league games shake out on Friday night and Saturday.

Should McNeese finish sixth or seventh, it’ll play on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in a single-elimination game. A No. 4 or 5 seeding will have the Cowboys play Wednesday at 6 o’clock in the double-elimination bracket.

On Friday, starting pitcher Bryson Hudgens continued his return from Tommy John surgery, throwing four innings and allowing six hits, six runs, three of those earned, struck out three and walked one. After giving up five hits in the first inning, Hudgens allowed just one hit the next three frames.

Three Cowboys collected two hits each on the day. Payton Harden finished 2-for-3 with a run scored and two walks; Josh Leslie 2-for-5 with two RBIs, two doubles and a run scored; and Cooper Hext 2-for-4 with an RBI.

After falling behind 6-0, McNeese rallied for five runs in the third inning to cut the gap to 6-5. Then in the fifth, a Hext single scored Brad Burckel to tie the game 6-6.

Miami regained the lead in the sixth when Blake Buzzeo hit his second home run of the series to put the Redhawks up 7-6. Miami followed with a couple more hits while an error helped it score four more runs and up its lead to 11-6, then added two more runs in the eighth to make it 13-6.

JT Moeller (1-1) took the loss for the Cowboys in relief work, throwing 1.1 innings and giving up four runs on four hits.