On Deck This Week - Lions vs. McNeese State University

 VS

#17 SLU Lions (16-1, 3-0) vs. McNeese State Cowboys (7-7, 1-2)
Cowboy Diamond, Lake Charles, LA
Game 1: 6:30pm Friday March 19
Game 2: 3:00pm Saturday March 20
Game 3: 1:00pm Sunday March 21

The 17th ranked SLU Lions will head to Lake Charles, LA as they play games two, three, and four of their five game road trip against Southland Conference rival McNeese State at Cowboy Diamond. First pitch for game one on Friday is scheduled for 6:30. The series will resume on Saturday with a 3:00 start. Sunday’s series finale is scheduled for 1:00.

The Lions got the week started right with their 5th straight win over UL-Lafayette on Wednesday night by beating the Ragin Cajuns in Lafayette 9-4. It was also the second straight season the Lions swept the season series from ULL. McNeese did not play a mid-week game this week.

SLU is coming off of a conference opening series sweep over UTSA. The Lions won 10-9 in a dramatic come from behind victory on Friday, which saw the teams combine for 23 hits. On Saturday it was a pitchers duel as Brandon Efferson and Josh Janway shut-out the Roadrunners 2-0. Game three of the series saw SLU score early and often as they completed their 3rd weekend sweep 15-8. McNeese hit the road last weekend as they opened up conference play against Northwestern State. The Cowboys lost the Friday game 9-2 and the Sunday game 16-6. McNeese won on Saturday by a score of 10-7.

NOTES:

The Lions have won the last two series against the Cowboys. During the 2008 series in Lake Charles SLU won game one 4-2 and game three 17-11. They lost game two 11-10. Last season the Lions swept McNeese in Hammond by scores of 9-6, 13-3, and 7-5.

SS Justin Boudreaux is currently on a 9 game hitting streak. Boudreaux is hitting .388 on the season with a .500 OBP, which ranks 4th in the SLC

Both Boudreaux and OF Jeff Harkensee lead the conference in total hits with 26.

Harkensee leads the conference in doubles with 10.

OF Cass Hargis leads the conference in triples with 3. With his 5 hits over the weekend against UTSA Hargis moved into 7th place on the school’s all-time hits list passing Ryan Spencer (2004-06) and Melvin Myers (1985-88).

C/3B Josh Cryer leads the SLC in Hits by Pitch with 8. Trey martin (7), Phil Freeman (6), and Boudreaux (5) rank in the top 5.

Martin, Cryer, and Brock Hebert lead the SLC in Sacrifice Bunts with 5.

Chris Franklin ranks 2nd in the SLC with a 1.56 ERA and Brandon Efferson ranks 4th with an ERA of 2.10. Tanner Lorenz sits at #7 with a 2.37 ERA.

Efferson leads the SLC in wins with 4 and Lorenz leads the SLC by holding opponents to a .171 BA.

As a staff the Lions pitchers lead the conference with a 2.37 ERA and ranks 2nd with a .251 opposing BA.

The Lions lead the SLC in runs scored with 140. They average 8 runs a game.