BEAUMONT, TEXAS – The University of the Incarnate Word and Lamar University will face off in a Cardinals versus Cardinals baseball series this weekend at Lamar.  The teams open on Friday at 6 p.m. and continue on Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.

Incarnate Word (13-26, 4-14) is coming off their first Southland Conference series win of the season.  Last weekend, they took 2-of-3 from Stephen F. Austin and they will try to keep things going this weekend.  The Cardinals are hitting .244 as a team and average 4.0 runs per game.  Christian Divelbiss (Yuba City, CA/Yuba City HS) leads the squad with a .302 batting average.  Matt Morris (Scottsdale, AZ/Saguaro HS) is hitting .270 and is tied for the conference lead with 13 doubles.  He has also scored 21 runs and driven in 18.  Ethan McGill (Penn Valley, CA/Nevada Union HS) has been a productive hitter with a .289 batting average and 12 doubles.

The pitching staff is led by junior right-hander Geno Encina (San Antonio/Brandeis HS) who is 2-3 with a 2.70 earned run average.  He has 26 strikeouts and only six walks in 36.2 innings of work.  Garret Cooper (Round Rock/McNeil HS) will start the second game and is 4-5 with a 4.29 ERA and Brandon Anderson (Cheyenne, WY/Cheyenne Central HS) is set to start the series finale.  He is 1-4 with a 4.99 ERA.

The Lamar Cardinals (18-22, 7-11) have the second best offense in the league.  They are hitting .296 and averaging 5.3 runs per game.  They are 13-10 at home, but have lost six of their last eight games.  The offense has five regulars hitting over .300 with Jake Nash and Stijn Van der Meer leading the way with matching .324 batting averages.  Kyle Markum leads the team with 26 RBI's while Kevin Santana has hit five of the team's 17 home runs.  The pitching staff has a 4.14 ERA and is set to start Chase Angelle (4-4, 2.23 ERA), Jayson McKinley (2-2, 2.25 ERA) and Collin Chapman (0-0, 0.00).
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