McNeese baseball gets shorthanded win vs. LSU-A

Lake Charles, LA (KPLC) - After not having a mid-week game the week prior, McNeese baseball was back at home on Tuesday afternoon as they hosted LSU Alexandria, but the Cowboys started an unusual lineup.

Payton Harden, Andruw Gonzales, Taylor Darden, Cooper Hext, and Tre’ Obregon III were all absent from McNeese’s lineup Tuesday afternoon, while Chase Keeton got his first start of the season at third base, Conner Westenburg made his first start of the season, Dean Bittner started, Schuyler Thibodaux started, Kade Hunter started as the DH, and Elliot Hebert started as well.

Early on, despite scoring in the first inning thanks to a Brad Burckel RBI that brought in Braden Duhon, McNeese’s inexperience showed a bit. McNeese was knotted with LSU-Alexandria heading into the seventh inning, and the Generals had actually tallied more hits than the Cowboys.

Regardless, McNeese was able to find some offense in the seventh and eighth innings as Ben David, Braden Duhon, and Kade Hunter all brought in runs, and Dean Bittner hit the first home run of his career as well, all in an effort to help the Cowboys beat the Generals 8-1.

“It was an enjoyable day for them I mean, just to come out and get their work in, but also get a chance to get in the fight, you know, a lot of guys contributed to this win, and it was good, we got a great start out of Cherry, we played good defense, and you know, had some guys in there that contributed to the win that normally don’t, so it shows that, just some depth that we’ve got from a bench standpoint, and it was good for those guys to get in the fight,” said head coach Justin Hill following the win.

“Felt pretty good, first Division I, NCAA home run, so it was pretty cool... got into the dugout and got a huge sea of my teammates giving me hugs and stuff, and I have no clue where the ball is, apparently it hit off the light pole or something, so maybe someone will find it, it’s ok... we really needed some insurance there, it was only 3-1 in the eighth, so it was good to get those runs, and it meant a lot, got us the dub,” said Dean Bittner on his first career home run.

McNeese will now head to San Antonio for a three-game series against Incarnate Word which will begin on Friday.

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