FRIDAY

COWBOYS ADVANCE IN WINNER’S BRACKET WITH 6-2 WIN OVER UIW

Peyton LeJeune hit three home runs during No. 5 McNeese’s 54-game regular season, but the senior from Church Point, La., rocketed a pair of two-run home runs at opposite ends of Alumni Field, highlighting a 6-2 Cowboys win over No. 8 UIW Wednesday evening at the Southland Baseball Championship.

 Alexis Gravel secured the win on the mound for the Pokes, pitching six innings with two earned runs on three hits with three strikeouts. Cameron LeJeune earned his sixth save of the season in three innings with no runs on four hits. However, it got exciting in the 7th and 9th innings as UIW loaded the bases with less than two outs. LeJeune wiggled his way out of trouble by getting the crucial final outs of the inning.

McNeese plays at 4PM against the winner of Lamar/UIW. It will be on ESPN+.

Friday, May 24
Matchup		Time	Stream/Stats	Result
9	No. 1 Lamar vs. No. 8 UIW ELIMINATION GAME	9 AM	Live Stats
10	No. 6 Southeastern vs. No. 3 New Orleans ELIMINATION GAME	12 PM	Live Stats
11	No. 5 McNeese vs. Winner of Game 9	4 PM	Live Stats
12	No. 2 Nicholls vs. Winner of Game 10	7 PM	Live Stats

WILL WADE AND THE BAYOU BANDITS ARE GLOBETROTTING

Will Wade has secured the funding for a pre-season trip from August 8-August 15 for his Bandits to visit El Salvador. McNeese will be allowed 10 days to practice in late July and early August in order to prepare for these three ballgames. McNeese will play the host San Salvador team, a national team from Columbia, and a professional team from the area. These are just exhibition games but are very valuable in molding a new team with seven new players. The entire team will be on campus in June and July with their off-season program and then start preparing for the trip.

McNeese will also travel to the Bahamas during Thanksgiving to play in a D1 tournament that will have some stiff competition. The Bandits will open the season in Sioux Falls, South Dakota against South Dakota State. This doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, but we better be getting a return game on this contract. This level of money is not worth it to play another program at your level on the road. South Dakota State won 23 games last year and will have a 7′ center, two 6’11 post players, and a 6’10 post player on the roster. They will not obviously all start, but the roster will look a lot like Gonzaga last year.

LSU DEFEATED SOUTH CAROLINA 11-10 LATE LAST NIGHT

The win gives LSU a bye today as they wait for the winner of Kentucky vs South Carolina today.

Friday, May 24

• Game 13: No. 3 Kentucky vs. No 10 South Carolina | 4 p.m. | SECN (Fubo)
• Game 14: No. 1 Tennessee vs. No. 5 Mississippi State | 30 minutes after Game 13 | SECN (Fubo)

BLANCHE BEARD FINISHES 13TH IN REGIONALS

It was heartbreaking to see Blanche Beard miss going to Eugene, Oregon by about 7 inches. The Top 12 qualified for nationals and Blanche was in 12th place until a competitor jumped ahead of her on the final throw. Blanche threw 157’8 and the girl from Dayton threw 158’5 on her final throw.

Kayla Harrison had a great run in the 400 but fell just short of making it to Eugene. Kayla ran a PR 53.4 in the 400.

Friday’s Schedule:
• Marcus Francis will compete in the men’s discus at 1 p.m. ET.
• Sakari Famous will take part in the women’s high jump at 2 p.m. ET.
• Morgan Talley will participate in the women’s triple jump at 6 p.m. ET.