Zach Nunez
Sports Reporter
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Zach Nunez joined the KPLC 7 Sports team in March 2021 as a sports anchor and reporter after graduating from Louisiana State University. He graduated with a degree in Broadcast Journalism and a minor in business. While attending LSU, Zach worked two years for Tiger TV, LSU’s student-run TV station, as sports director, anchor, and reporter. Zach also spent the summer of 2019 as an intern for WWL-TV in New Orleans. During that time, Zach covered the 2019 Baton Rouge Super Regional, the 2019-2020 LSU Football National Championship team and New Orleans Saints training camp. In his free time, Zach enjoys playing golf and complaining about injuries that held him back from playing college athletics - just like every other mediocre high school athlete.
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We start the countdown with the top-seven matchups for McNeese this upcoming season.
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Southwest Louisiana continues to be a hotbed for sending anglers to the Jr. Bassmasters National Championship. 10-year olds Grant Williams from Lake Charles and Sawyer Knickerbocker from Maurice will be heading to Huntington, Tennessee to compete for the National Championship in the 7-14-year-old division. The duo qualified for Nationals by winning the state tournament in April.
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After announcing he had entered the transfer portal on January 31, former McNeese defensive back Colby Richardson has finally found his landing spot in LSU.
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The NCAA Baseball Tournament kicked off on Friday night as the four remaining Louisiana universities played in their first regional games.
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It’s been two years since the McNeese basketball has had a normal off-season. Following a second-round exit in the conference tournament, the Cowboys finally feel like they are gaining some level footing heading into year two of the John Aiken era.
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The Cowboys came up five runs short of making their third consecutive NCAA appearance after falling to Southeastern in the Southland Championship Series.
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While the Cowgirls came up short of their goal of winning their first-ever regional, McNeese did make history this season. The Pokes won a pair of games against a nationally ranked Notre Dame team, making it to a regional final for the first time. Those wins, which included a run-rule victory over the Irish, gained the Pokes some national recognition. According to Google Trends, McNeese softball has been searched more in the past week than any time over the last five years.
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It’s the end of the road in the Southland Conference this year and the top two pre-season teams, McNeese and Southeastern, will face off this week in the Conference Championship Series. It’s a fitting end to the season for the in-state rivals.
McNeese Softball in an elimination game defeats Notre Dame 3-1 to advance to the first regional final in program history. The Cowgirls will face host Northwestern again at 6:00 P.M. and at 8:30 P.M. if necessary.
A 10-run first inning propelled McNeese to an upset win over the No. 18 Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the opening game of the Evanston Regional, 11-1. The victory was the Cowgirls’ first over a Top 25 opponent this season after going 0-5 in previous attempts.
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For McNeese, making it to the NCAA tournament is nothing new. The Cowgirls are in regional play for the fifth time since 2016 and the eighth time overall. Cowgirl coach James Landreneau is ready to move back the goal post for his program.
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Payton Harden wins Southland Conference Player of the Year
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The Cowgirls have received their regional designation as the three seed in the Evanston Regional. McNeese is joined by three other schools from the midwest, which is what surprised McNeese coach James Landreneau about the draw.
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Despite dropping a home series against Northwestern State, the Cowboys are still in good shape heading into the last weekend of the regular season. McNeese is still tied for first in the Southland with Southeastern and now travels to HBU looking for redemption and a top seed in the tournament.
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The Barbe girls’ golf team, the defending Division I state champs, captured another state title with a two-day total of 329. The Lady Bucs led the field both days en route to the 13-stroke win. Isabella Bradley (161), Isabella Callaba (169) and Sadie Guillory (183) each placed top 18. The St. Louis Catholic golf team finished as the Division II boys’ golf runner-up after winning the title a season ago. Sr. Thomas Moore edged the Saints out by just 4 strokes. Junior Ross Anderson meanwhile defended his Div. II individual state title from a season ago with a two-day total of 146. The Saints return their entire team next year as no member of the team is a senior.
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The second round of LHSAA baseball playoffs began on Friday, with a few of the local teams taking a series lead. Iota, St. Louis Catholic and Evans all advanced to the quarterfinal round. Barbe, Rosepine and Kinder all took leads in their respective series.
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The opening round of the LHSAA baseball playoffs kicked off this week with 6 local first-round games on Monday. Schools are three wins away from the semifinal round that starts May 11 at McMurry Park in Sulphur for non-select, and May 13 at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field in Hammond for the select schools.
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It was an all-around complete weekend of softball for the Cowgirls as they swept Lamar, scoring 21 runs in the series powered by some key bats off the bench.
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The LHSAA released its 2022 baseball playoff brackets Sunday. The semifinal and championship round will be held May 11-14 at McMurry Park in Sulphur for non-select, and at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field in Hammond and will be held May 13-14.
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McNeese football hasn’t had a player selected in the NFL Draft since 2009, defensive end Isaiah Chambers hopes to change that. Despite only being a Cowboy for two seasons, Chambers leaves a legacy as one of the most dominant pass rushers in school history with 17.5 sacks, good for eighth all-time among Cowboys. That type of production was a goal after leaving the University of Houston.
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Just last year college athletics began allowing players to profit from the Name Image and Likeness. Now, high school athletic associations are considering the same.
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A few important district matchups were played in both baseball and softball in Southwest Louisiana
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Highlights and scores from #SWLAPreps baseball and softball
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One of the best things about college sports.. Is seeing players mature and develop over their 4-to-5 year career on campus. For McNeese.. One of those players that has matured and developed his role in the lineup has been Payton Harden.
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The Louisiana High School Soccer Coaches’ Association released its yearly awards this week, and two Southwest Louisiana girls received honors.
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It’s safe to say, McNeese’s conference-opening series against Houston Baptist didn’t go as planned. In game one, HBU hit a game-tying home run in the eighth, then a game-winning home run in extras. A slow start would then doom the Pokes in game two. However, once again, McNeese closed out a series well with an impressive 10-run eighth-inning comeback on Sunday in game three.
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After dropping four straight earlier this month, the Cowgirls have won six of their last eight including sweeping their first Southland Series against Corpus Christi on the road.
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The Cowboys have been hot and cold as of late with a 3-5 record over the last two weeks, but McNeese coach Justin Hill wants his team to focus on the positive and to keep pushing forward into conference play next weekend.
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Despite dropping their second consecutive series, the Cowgirls were able to steal a win in Waco against Baylor. The Cowgirls remain hungry and confident they can compete with some of college softball’s best.
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After a grand jury denied not to indict Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson on Friday, the trade market was sure to heat up for the 26-year-old former first-round pick.
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The Cowgirls carry one of the toughest schedules every year, and this one is no different. Pokes coach James Landreneau said the tough out-of-conference slate is part of what makes his teams so strong come Southland play. However, after losing four straight, including being swept by Boise State at home, the Cowgirls are off to a less than ideal start.
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After a 6-2 start, the Cowboys have gone 3-5, although Coach Justin Hill expected this part of the season to be difficult facing ranked opponents like Louisiana Tech and LSU
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After dropping the first two games of their series against No. 25 Louisiana Tech, the Cowboys ground out a 5-2 win over the Bulldogs to avoid the sweep.
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It’s virtually a brand new season for both McNeese Basketball teams as they head to Katy for the Southland Conference tournaments.
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Spring football kicks off for the Cowboys tomorrow as first-year head coach Gary Goff looks to implement his coaching style which marries great attention to detail with an up-tempo practice.
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Highlights from Friday night’s high school basketball and soccer action across the area. Reported scores can be found below.Please send scores to scores@kplctv.com.
As both McNeese Hoops teams head into the final weeks of the season, both continue to push for a bye in the Southland tournament. Starting with the Cowboys, they picked up a much-needed win over the Demons despite being without primary ball handlers Kellon Taylor Collin Warren and Johnathan Massie. The Pokes relied on Zach Scott who posted 21 points and Freshman Trae English who scores a career-high 13 points to lift them over NSU.
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The McNeese Baseball season opener is finally less than a week away as the Cowboys look to defend their back-to-back conference championships, but Coach Justin Hill is trying to keep the chip on his team’s shoulder.
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Following their sweep of The Evangeline Bank and Trust Invitational, McNeese also took home both Southland Players of the Week awards for Softball.
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Highlights from Friday night’s high school basketball and soccer action across the area. Reported scores can be found below. Please send scores to scores@kplctv.com.
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Highlights from Friday night’s high school basketball and soccer action across the area. Reported scores can be found below.
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Coming into their four-game homestand, McNeese hoops was hoping to gain some momentum, instead dropped three of four. The bright side is those three losses all came by 10 points or fewer, and the fix is in the details.
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Highlights from Friday night’s high school basketball and soccer action across the area. Reported scores can be found below.
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After a game of musical hats, 4-Star LCCP running back TreVonte Citizen announced he would be signing with the Miami Hurricanes over Florida, Auburn and LSU.
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Coming into its four-game homestand, McNeese was hoping to gain ground in the Southland standings, instead, the Pokes dropped their first two including Sunday’s loss to UNO. The Cowboys allowed the Privateers to go on a nine-point run with under eight minutes to go in the 84-78 McNeese loss. Cowboy coach John Aiken believes McNeese’s ball security and physicality on the boards must improve.
After seemingly playing with one hand tied behind their backs for the past two seasons, the McNeese Cowboy baseball team was finally able to put together a normal off-season routine. Being able to rely on consistency, for once, is something that will help better prepare them for the start of the season.
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Three games into Southland Conference play, McNeese is 2-1 coming off a 10 point win over UIW and returns to the Legacy Center to host 2021 conference champs Nicholls and there is certainly no love lost between the Cowboys and the Colonels.
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Following an 0-2 start to Southland play, where the Cowgirls failed to put together complete games, McNeese returns home with a win 10-point win over UIW where the lead only changed hands one time.
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When you win in an exciting fashion on such an emotional night as McNeese did on Saturday, it’s easy to get caught up in the celebration and bask in the glory for too long. The Cowboys now travel to Corpus Christi to face an Islanders team that took them down earlier this month.
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