BEAUMONT, Texas – After tying the game with two runs in the sixth inning, Lamar responded with five runs in the next three innings to hand the University of the Incarnate Word baseball team a 9-6 loss in the Southland Conference series opener on Friday afternoon at Vincent-Beck Stadium.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Cardinals (13-10, 4-3 SLC) took an early lead in the first inning when
Lee Thomas and
David Anaya drove in a run each on groundouts. Lamar (13-10, 2-5 SLC) responded with a run in the bottom of the first, and then took a 3-2 lead on a Chad Fleischman RBI ground-rule double—on of his four hits and four RBI on the afternoon.
After Lamar added a run in the fifth, UIW tied it in the sixth with two runs.
Kyle Bergeron doubled to right center to drive in
Eddy Gonzalez, and Anaya later brought in Bergeron with an RBI groundout to the shortstop.
With the score tied 4-4, the Lamar Cardinals' offense got going. They went on to score five runs in the next three innings, and would never look back.
Thomas and Anaya once again drove in a run each in the eighth to make it interesting, but Lamar's Tanner Driskill threw a scoreless 1.1 innings to get his first save of the season. He retired all four batters he faced.
Carson Lance picked up the 'W' after tossing 7.2 strong innings. He only allowed three hits, two earned runs (four unearned), walked four and struck out two. UIW's starter
Tyler Lesley got tabbed with the loss.
LEADERS
UIW scored six runs with only three hits in the ballgame. Four of the six runs were unearned. Anaya, Bergeron and
Eddy Gonzalez had the hits for the Cardinals. Anaya drove in three and Thomas drove in two.
Mark Whitehead stole his 11
th base of the season, walked once, and scored two runs.
For Lamar, Fleischman led the way with four hits and four RBI. Five starters collected two hits, and Reid Russell hit a homerun and scored three runs.
UP NEXT
The Cardinals will look to even the series in game two tomorrow at 2 p.m.
Bernie Martinez (3-0, 1.15 ERA) will get the ball for UIW and will face Lamar's Jimmy Johnson (1-2, 3.12 ERA)
STAY TUNED
After the weekend series, UIW will play a non-conference midweek game on Tuesday at the University of Houston at 6:30 p.m.
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