McNeese takes series rubber game over UNO behind Abraham’s strong start

LAKE CHARLES – Ty Abraham threw a career-high 8.1 innings and Tré Obregon III hit his second home run of the weekend to help rally McNeese to a 6-2 win over New Orleans and capturing the Southland Conference baseball series.

Abraham (1-0) earned his first win of the season after he allowed two runs, both in the first inning, and nine hits while striking out five. He threw 112 pitches on the day.

The win improved the Cowboys to 26-13 overall and 8-7 in conference play while UNO fell to 22-18 and 7-8.

Trailing 2-0 after the first inning and through 3 ½ frames, Obregon popped a three-run home run over the left field wall to put the Cowboys on top 3-2. It was his second homer of the weekend and third on the season.

After the second out of the inning, Chase Keeton singled up the middle and Cooper Hext followed with an RBI triple to make it 4-2. Hext then scored on a wild pitch to complete a five-run inning.

The Cowboys added another run in the bottom of the eighth on an Obregon sacrifice fly that scored Josh Leslie who doubled then advanced to third on a sac bunt by Hext.

Obregon finished the game with four RBIs.

UNO starting pitcher Colton Mercer (2-4) took the loss after giving up five runs on four hits in four innings of work. Mercer did not allow a hit until a Hext one-out single in the fourth that helped jump start the five-run inning.

McNeese will be back in action on Tuesday when it hosts LSU-Alexandria at 6 p.m. in the final home mid-week game of the season. The Cowboys will visit UIW beginning Friday for a crucial three-game series.