If you’re looking at it from a historical perspective, there is some good news for McNeese State heading into the Southland Conference baseball tournament, which for the Cowboys is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. today at Constellation Field in Sugar Land, Texas.

The top-seeded team has won the tourney three times since 1993, meaning No. 1 Southeastern Louisiana (41-15) isn’t necessarily a shoo-in to take the trophy on Saturday.

There is also some bad news.

The fourth-seeded Cowboys (33-23) start their quest for the title against No. 5 Sam Houston State (28-26), which is the most successful program in tournament history. The Bearkats have a league-high four championships and .622 winning percentage in the event.

None of that historical minutiae is particularly relevant to Cowboys coach Justin Hill.

“It’s, What do you have to do today to be successful?” Hill said. “That’s it. What do we have to do to win this game? We can’t be looking ahead at whether we’re playing Southeastern or Corpus Christi. We’ve got to beat Sam Houston. Everything we do is going to be focused on winning that one ballgame.”

That includes bringing all hands on deck out of the bullpen if necessary.

“Somebody else will be ready,” Hill said. “Leo Durocher said ‘Don’t worry about tomorrow. It may rain.’”

Rain is part of the forecast from Thursday onward, but the Cowboys’ hope is starter Kaleb Fontenot (7-3, 3.12 ERA) will keep those arms fresh. Fontenot pitched six-plus scoreless innings in his lone tournament start last season.

“Last year, being in this same exact situation, prepared me,” Fontenot said. “We have a good core group of guys that have been here a few years. I think as a team we’re ready for it.”

Senior players are approaching the tourney knowing full well this could be the end of the road for their careers.

“It’s a focal point as a motivator,” said center fielder Andrew Guillotte. “But that’s something we’ve been thinking about since senior day. It’s all coming to a close — maybe. It’s a yield sign, not a stop sign. I feel I’m prepared as I’m gonna be, because this is probably the best I’ve been in my career.”

The pitchers may have the upper hand in the first round. Both teams will throw their aces, neither of whom has been seen by the other side this season. Due to the Southland’s unbalanced schedule, a 5-2 McNeese midweek win on March 3 was only meeting between the teams.

“It’s going to be difficult,” Guillotte said. “But that’s the conference tournament. Every game is like a Friday night game regardless of who is in the lineup. It’s going to be one of those one-run grind-outs where you try and figure out how to win.”

McNeese State University baseball head coach Justin Hill. (Rick Hickman / American Press)