McNeese drops series opener to Northwestern

LAKE CHARLES, La. – McNeese Baseball (9-10, 0-0 SLC) fell to Northwestern (10-9, 0-0 Big Ten) in the series opener 12-4 Friday night at Joe Miller Ballpark to start a three-game series.

McNeese took an early lead in the first inning with two home runs to lead the Wildcats 3-1. In redshirt senior Chase Keeton’s first at-bat of the night, he smashed a home run over the right-field wall to even the game after Northwestern plated a run in the top half of the inning. Three batters later, with junior Conner Westenburg on first, senior Elliot Hebert earned his first home run of the season to put the Cowboys up by two.

After Northwestern plated a run in the top of the second, McNeese followed up with the same on a triple by Grant Mangrum, a junior, and an RBI single by Keeton to bring him across home plate. Northwestern scored 10 runs over the remainder of the game.

Keeton posted the best night for the Cowboys, hitting 3-for-5 with two runs batted in, marking his sixth multi-hit game of the season, third with three hits. He plated one run for the Cowboys with his leadoff solo homer.

Earning seven hits in the outing, the Cowboys have now collected at least six hits in 17 of 19 games played thus far.

McNeese and Northwestern are set rematch in game two of the weekend Saturday at 2 p.m.

Pitching Appearances
Cameron LeJeune: 4.0 IP, 1 K, 6 H, 7 ER
JT Moeller: 2.0 IP, 0 K, 3 H, 4 ER
Evan Maldonado: 1.0 IP, 2 K’s, 0 H, 0 ER
David Carr: 1.0 IP, 1 K, 0 H, 1 ER
Brian Shadrick: 1.0 IP, 1 K, 1 H, 0 ER

McNeese Notes
– Keeton marks his sixth multi-hit game of the season, third with three hits.
– Maldonado and Shadrick both threw scoreless innings in the outing.
– Mangrum’s triple was the seventh of the season for the Pokes who entered the weekend 56th in the nation in triples.
– McNeese has earned at least six hits in 17 games this season.