Hill's Cowboys Made Usual Run

By Jim Gazzolo

At one point in the season, the McNeese State baseball team looked lost.

The Cowboys were in last place with a 2-9 record in the Southland Conference. Their hopes of making the postseason tournament were in question.

That’s when things began to change.

McNeese went on a run that left them just a victory shy of an NCAA Tournament bid and an SLC tourney championship.

All during the run head coach Justin Hill stayed calm, never adding to the panic and never questioning the process. At least not publicly.

Meanwhile, his team got healthy and then the Cowboys got hot. 

“It doesn’t always look like the way we drew it up, but our guys fight until the end,” said Hill. “There is something about this group, they like being together.”

By the time the season had ended, McNeese found itself in fifth place in the SLC, easily making the tournament where they got a fresh start. The Pokes almost made the most of that as well.

Behind a resurgent offense that sometime in mid-April found its power stroke, and the consistent work of Hill and his staff, the Cowboys ended the regular season by beating Nicholls on the final day. 

That kept the Colonels from repeating as SLC regular season champs. 

Then, once in the tournament, they won three games, beating top-seeded Lamar just hours after the Cardinals had beaten them. That loss helped keep Lamar from an NCAA bid despite having the second-most wins in the country.

That left one game for the title, which the Cowboys lost as Nicholls earned a measure of revenge.

The surprising push to the title game marked the fourth time McNeese played for the championship in five seasons.

“I’m very proud of what this team was able to accomplish,” said Hill. “We overcame a lot this year, always fighting.” 

The Cowboys finished the year 32-27. It was the ninth time in Hill’s 11 seasons at McNeese with at least 30 victories. One of those years was cut short by COVID. 

Hill has had a solid run as the head coach of the Cowboys, and this may have been his best job in the dugout of all. He kept a team together when it was down and made sure it had a chance to grow.

McNeese baseball doesn’t get the attention of other sports but has earned more than its share of recognition this season. 

And it came because the group never gave up.

“They always believed, and they made me believe,” said Hill.

Jim Gazzolo is a freelance writer who covers McNeese athletics. He is the host of Poke Nation on CBS-Lake Charles