LAKE CHARLES, La. - McNeese hit three home runs and used a strong outing by Grant Rogers to hand the Nicholls State University baseball team an 8-3 loss in the teams' Southland Conference opener Friday afternoon at Joe Miller Ballpark.

The Cowboys (16-6, 1-0 SLC) totaled 11 hits and seven went for extra bases. The first four runs scored came on the three homers off of Colonel starter Tyler Theriot (2-4), who tossed 5.2 innings and allowed six earned on eight hits. His counterpart, Rogers, struck out seven Colonels in 7.0 innings and gave up three runs on seven hits.

Hunter LeBlanc, Edgar Alvarez and MaCrae Kendrick each had two hits as Nicholls (13-11, 0-1 SLC) totaled nine for the game. But unlike the Cowboys, the Colonels had all singles.

Down 6-0 after five innings, the Colonels ended the shutout bid on an Alvarez RBI single. LeBlanc had a one-out base hit and Parker Coddou followed with a hit-by-pitch to set up the run.

The biggest inning for the Colonels came in the seventh when two runs made the score 6-3. The Colonels had four hits in the frame and LeBlanc and Coddou both had an RBI single. However, McNeese got both runs back in the bottom half for the final runs of the day.

The Cowboys were led on offense by Chase Keeton, who homered and finished 2-for-4 with three RBIs.

ON DECK
Nicholls will look to even up the series on Saturday with a 2 p.m. first pitch.