McNeese sweeps Southeastern big fourth inning, two homers

LAKE CHARLES – The Pokes win again.

For the second-straight weekend, the McNeese Cowboys (23-17, 9-6) were able to finish off a three-game sweep, this time defeating Southeastern (17-23, 7-8) by a score of 8-4 in Sunday’s series finale at Joe Miller Ballpark.

Winners of seven of their last eight, McNeese is now tied atop the Southland standings with Nicholls. The sweep was the first over Southeastern since 2006 in Lake Charles.

Reid Bourque continued his big series as he powered the McNeese offense with three hits including his third homer of the season and a double. Bourque hit .625 with five runs scored in the three games against Southeastern.

“That was a huge series, especially against a very good opponent like Southeastern,” said Bourque. (On his homer) “That was a good feeling, they got a run back in the top of the inning so we knew we had to get one back ourselves.”

After a solo homer put SLU up one in the third, McNeese took the lead for good with a four-run fourth inning that was started by Brad Burckel’s leadoff double and highlighted by two RBI fielder’s choices and a 2-run single by Kade Morris.

Three runs between the sixth and seventh for the Lions made things interesting but heads-up base running by Josh Leslie and late home runs by Reid Bourque and Kade Morris kept McNeese on the right side of the box score.

Starter Ty Abraham pitched for the first time since he was banged up at UNO (4/9), Abraham gave the Cowboys solid three innings allowing two hits and one run while fanning three.

In relief, Brett Payne (3-0) earned the victory as he pitched the fourth and fifth and allowed no runs, and struck out a pair.

After picking up the win Friday night, Cameron Foster recorded the final two outs of the game, good for his conference-leading 10th save of the season.

Three Cowboy hitters tallied multiple base knocks, led by the aforementioned Reid Bourque, Kade Morris went 2-4 with a two-run homer and a two-run single, and Brad Burckel added a 2-2 day at the plate.

Record Watch: Today’s victory was career victory no. 255 for Head Coach Justin Hill, eight shy of tying the all-time record of 263 held by the late Tony Robichaux.

Cameron Foster recorded his 10th save of the season, the single-season McNeese record is 12 set by Jordan LeGros in 2011.

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Next Game:
McNeese is back in action Tuesday night against ULM, first pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Joe Miller Ballpark.

LINE SCORE
McNeese 8, Southeastern 4 (Apr 24, 2022 at Lake Charles, La)
——————————————————————————–
Southeastern ……. 001 001 200 – 4 7 2 (17-23, 7-8 SLC)
McNeese …………. 000 401 30X – 8 9 0 (23-17, 9-6 SLC)
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Pitchers: Southeastern – Landry, Andrew; Reynolds, Reid (4); Dugas, Daniel (5); Smith, Noah (6); O’Toole, Hunter (8) and Grizzaffi, Bryce. McNeese – Abraham, Ty; Payne, Brett (4); Shadrick, Brian (6); Vega, Christian (7); Jones, Burrell (8); Foster, Cameron (9) and Gonzales, Andruw.

Win-Payne, Brett (3-0) Save-Foster, Cameron (10) Loss-Landry, Andrew (2-4) T-3:02 A-830
HR SLU – Finke, Tyler (6); Grizzaffi, Bryce (2).
HR MCN – Bourque, Reid (3); Morris, Kade (8).
Weather: Clear