McNeese enjoys offensive explosion in 16-5 season-opening win at UTSA

SAN ANTONIO, TX. – Shane Selman goes 3 for 5 with 5 RBIs and a double away from the cycle in route to a to a 16-5 victory over the University of Texas at San Antonio at Roadrunner Field in both team’s season opener Friday night.

“It felt great to get out there and swing the bat,” said Selman. “I was feeling good at the plate for sure. I was seeing the ball big, heck we all were. We all kind of fed off each other tonight and got some great at bats.”

The victory snapped a five-game winning streak for UTSA against McNeese.

After not playing for over a year, Rhett Deaton picked up his first win of the season after throwing five scoreless innings, while only giving up three hits, and struck out four batters.

“It’s great to be back out there, there was a ton of emotion,” said Deaton. “The guys showed up and helped me out by putting some runs on the board so that’s always nice.”

“Rhett Deaton I thought was the story of tonight,” said head coach Justin Hill. “He went up against another Friday night guy and pitched really well.”

The Cowboys scored their first run in the third inning after freshman outfielder Payton Harden hit a ground ball up the middle to score sophomore shortstop Reid Bourque. Harden picked up his first collegiate hit and RBI on the at bat.

In the 5th inning McNeese capitalized off of two UTSA miscues, picking up one run off a pass ball and two runs off a dropped ball by the Roadrunner right fielder to push the Cowboy’s lead to 4-0.

In the very next inning, the Cowboys started to find their bats. Junior transfer Jake Dickerson, got his first hit as a Cowboy when he sent a fastball over the fence in right field for a homerun.

After Dustin Duhon scored on a wild pitch, Shane Selman got his first hit of the night with a two-run single to left center field for their third and fourth runs of the inning pushing the lead to 8-0.

In the 7th Inning, senior third baseman Carson Maxwell answered UTSA’s 6th inning homerun with one of his own to the deepest part of the ballpark in centerfield, pushing the score to 9-1 after seven innings of play.

Both teams would combine for 11 more runs in the final two innings of the game, with the Cowboys scoring seven of those 11 on seven hits.

The Cowboys set a new team record for home runs in a game by hitting five in Friday night’s game. While Selman, Maxwell, and Dickerson hit one, Clayton Rasbeary tied the McNeese record for homeruns in a single game with two.

The Cowboys also scored 10 of their 16 runs with two outs.

“I think we kind of showed what we are capable of doing,” said coach Hill. “I think we got a lot of good at bats early, but it just didn’t show in runs. We made (Karan) Patel. (UTSA starting pitcher) really work hard early and our guys did a good job of that and the good at bats just continued.”

The Cowboys will look to carryover their Friday night success as the series continues Saturday with the second game of the series starting at 3 p.m.