LAKE CHARLES – A year later, Northwestern State and McNeese continued their pattern of one-run games.
After the final three meetings of the 2025 season between the teams were decided by the slimmest of margins, the first of a three-game Southland Conference series at Joe Miller Ballpark followed suit as Easton Dowell's two-out double in the 11
th inning brought home the only run in a 1-0 Cowboy victory.
Junior right-hander
Dylan Marionneaux, a three-time Southland Conference Pitcher of the Week, gave the Demons (25-22, 16-12) their best start of the season, shutting out the Cowboys (26-23, 14-14) on two hits through nine innings.
Marionneaux covered the first nine innings in 99 pitches, striking out six without issuing a walk.
"I'm really proud of the job Slim (Marionneaux) did," third-year head coach
Chris Bertrand said. "Unbelievable start, unbelievable performance. I'm really proud of the job that (Caden) Fiveash did out of the bullpen. He was really, really good, too, and the ball was coming out of his hand really well. We posted a zero in the error column and turned some nice double plays to get ourselves off the field with two outs to be able to post the 10 zeroes that it took. We just need the offense to come around in the game's most critical at-bats."
During that time, the Demons had their chances against McNeese left-hander Cooper Golden, who tossed 7 2-3 shutout innings of his own.
Northwestern's two best chances against Golden came in the sixth and eighth innings. Two two-out walks by
Thomas Marsala III and
Ethan Menard put Golden on the ropes in the sixth before a flyout ended the threat.
Two innings later,
Brooks Leonard and Marsala ended Golden's day with back-to-back, two-out hits before reliever Jaden Bahl (2-1) got
Ethan Menard to pop out to end the inning.
Meanwhile, Marionneaux cruised through the McNeese lineup.
A junior from Zachary, Marionneaux never allowed more than one runner to reach base in an inning. Twice, he induced inning-ending double plays to maintain the scoreless tie through nine innings.
Northwestern again had its chances in extra innings as Menard led off the 11
th with a double before
Joe Siervo sacrificed pinch runner
Lane Lusk to third.
Michael McAloose's hard line drive went right to third baseman Korey Cooper, who tagged out Lusk on an inning-ending double play.
Fiveash (3-1) struck out four in 1 2-3 innings of relief, but a leadoff walk to Marcus Heusohn proved to be part of the difference as Dowell's sinking line drive got by a diving JT Simonelli to score Heuson from first with the game's only run.
"I thought we played really, really well," Bertrand said. "We just couldn't find ourselves in a position to cash in. I thought a really good job by (assistant coaches) Sam (Taylor) and Brennan (Lambert) and the hitters, especially early in the game. We had a good plan against (Golden), but we stepped on some balls early in the game that, obviously, on a night like tonight, it's not going to go anywhere. I don't know that it's as much unlucky as we need to find ourselves in a position to create a little bit of our own good fortune by executing offensive baseball a little more soundly throughout the game and not have it be as stressful as those moments have become."
The series continues at 6 p.m. Friday with a matchup of right-handers. Northwestern will send
Kevin Robinson (0-3, 3.45) to the mound against McNeese's Eric Nachtsheim (6-3, 3.63).
McNeese 1, Northwestern State 0, 11 innings
NSU 000 000 000 00 – 0 7 0
McN 000 000 000 01 – 1 3 0
W – Jaden Bahl (2-1). L –
Caden Fiveash (3-1). 2B – NSU,
Ethan Menard,
Joe Siervo. McN, Easton Dowell. Highlights: NSU, Siervo 2-4, 2B;
Sebastian Huerta 2-3. McN, Dowell 2-5, 2B, RBI.
Records: Northwestern State 25-22, 16-12; McNeese 26-23, 14-14.
