LAKE CHARLES, La. – Wichita State mustered just one hit from the fourth inning on as the Shockers dropped the 2025 season opener to McNeese, 7-1 on Friday night at Joe Miller Ballpark.
McNeese (1-0) got 5.0 innings of one-hit, one-run relief from Sergio Lopez and broke a 1-1 deadlock with six runs over the final four innings, highlighted by a three-run bottom of the seventh.
The game was scoreless into the bottom of the third inning as Wichita State starter and McNeese southpaw Alexis Gravel traded zeroes. A solo home run from Conner Westenburg in the bottom of the third got the Cowboys on the board first, but the Shockers answered back with a run of their own in the top of the fifth thanks to a two-out walk and three consecutive hit by pitches, the last of which from forced home a run that knotted the score at 1-1.