The McNeese Cowboys baseball team will travel to Beaumont to play the Lamar Cardinals in a Battle of the Border weekend series, with the first game scheduled for Friday, March 13. The matchup continues league play for both teams and will be streamed live on ESPN+.
This series comes after McNeese lost two out of three games against Houston Christian University, despite scoring 11 runs on 31 hits over the weekend. Notably, Seth Fontenot and Viggo Lopez each hit their first home runs of the season during game three. Eric Nachtsheim, McNeese’s starting pitcher, was recognized as Southland Conference Pitcher of the Week following his complete game performance last Friday night, where he struck out a career-high 16 batters and improved his record to 3-0 this season. Nachtsheim was also named to Baseball America’s National Team of the Week and is on the College Baseball Foundation National Pitcher of the Year Watch List.
Lamar enters the series after a shutout win over Louisiana Tech earlier this week but previously dropped a series at Stephen F. Austin. In recent meetings between McNeese and Lamar, McNeese has won three out of five games, including their last encounter on March 16, 2025.
Several players have contributed notable performances for McNeese this season. Hayden Stringfellow went four-for-four at bat with three RBIs in game two against Houston Christian and currently holds an eleven-game reached base streak. Matt Stancliff leads the team with twelve stolen bases and shares the home run lead with Danny Barbero at three each. The pitching staff has recorded 180 strikeouts across 143 innings pitched so far this year.
Head Coach Justin Hill is entering his thirteenth season leading the program and holds records as both all-time winningest coach overall (365-284) and in conference play (180-143). The Cowboys return twenty players from last year’s roster while welcoming twenty-one newcomers from various colleges and high schools.
