McNeese baseball will continue its homestand against Abilene Christian starting Friday, March 26, with the first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m. at Joe Miller Ballpark in Lake Charles. The series marks the first meeting between the two programs since 2019, when McNeese took two out of three games.
The matchup is significant as both teams enter with identical records of 13-12. McNeese has a conference record of 6-6, while Abilene Christian is set to begin its non-conference slate. The Cowboys are coming off an impressive 11-1 run-rule victory over Louisiana Christian and have recently secured a series win over Southeastern.
Several players have reached personal milestones ahead of this weekend’s games. Garett Blanchard earned his first win against Louisiana Christian, Parker Morgan picked up his first win on Saturday versus Southeastern, and Connor Walker hit his first collegiate home run on Sunday against Southeastern. Simon Larranaga added his first and second home runs of the season during that same series.
Marcus Heusohn enters Friday’s game on a seven-game hitting streak, while Matt Stancliff has reached base in fourteen consecutive games and leads the team with fifteen stolen bases this season. Danny Barbero currently leads McNeese in batting average (under .400) and home runs (five), while Bryce Fontenot and Heusohn each have seven doubles.
On the mound, Nachtsheim leads all pitchers with fifty-three strikeouts across seven appearances. As a staff, McNeese pitchers have tallied two hundred fifty-seven strikeouts over two hundred twenty innings pitched so far this year.
Head Coach Justin Hill is entering his thirteenth season leading the program and holds school records for wins both overall (365-284) and in conference play (180-143). The Cowboys return twenty players from last year’s roster along with twenty-one newcomers from various colleges and high schools. Three opponents on their schedule—Kansas, Houston Christian, and LSU—advanced to NCAA Regionals last year; LSU went on to win the College World Series.
