Cardinals return for four-game home stand

After suffering a three-game sweep at Texas-Pan American, the Lamar baseball team returns home to open a four-game home stand that

features Prairie View A&M on Tuesday and the start of Southland Conference play on Friday with Northwestern State.

The Cardinals (6-5) host the Panthers (4-7) at 4 o’clock on Tuesday before NSU’s (5-6) three-game slate opens at 6 o’clock on Friday. Game two of the SLC series is scheduled for 2 o’clock on Saturday and the finale is Sunday at 1:00.

All four games can be seen on the Big Red Sports Network at bigredSN.com free of charge. The Voice of the Cardinals Harold Mann will have the call for the Friday and Sunday games of the NSU series on KLVI 560 AM.

Neches Federal Credit Union is sponsoring Tuesday’s game and will be giving out Lamar shirts before the game. Friday’s giveaway will be a koozie and Saturday’s is a flashlight keychain, while supplies last. Sunday is Youth Day and all children wearing jerseys get in free and will get to run around the bases postgame with Big Red.

LU had the lead late in two of the games at Texas-Pan American, but the Broncs were able to put together three big innings throughout the weekend to claim all three games. Big Red had a 2-0 lead in the eighth inning of the first contest, but a five-run frame allowed UTPA to scoot by 5-2.

In the second game, Lamar held an 8-4 lead after five and a half innings, but a seven-run outburst in the sixth led Pan American to an 11-8 win. Sunday’s game was a little different in that it was not a comeback, but the five-run third sparked the Broncs to a 5-0 lead in what turned to be a 6-4 loss for the Cardinals.

Despite the sweep, Tyler Sullivan had a good weekend at the plate. He was 4-of-10 wth two runs knocked in and three scored. He moved into the Cardinals’ top spot in batting average and tied with Cutter McDowell (.355) in RBI.

Stijn van der Meer moved his hit streak to nine, and has a hit in 10 of Lamar’s 11 games and scored in eight of them. He ranks third in batting average (.348), at-bats (46), and runs scored (11).

Prairie View enters its matchup with Lamar with four losses to Southland Conference schools this season, a three-game sweep by Houston Baptist and one loss to Incarnate Word and Sam Houston State. The combined score from the HBU series was 36-6, UIW final was 14-4, and the Sam Houston finish was 10-3.

The Cardinals hold a 40-3 advantage all-time against the Panthers, and a 34-1 mark against them at Vincent-Beck Stadium. The one loss was in 2009, and dating back to that game the Cards have a seven-game win streak.

PVAMU, which enters after a conference series win over Southern, is led at the plate by Grant Doughtery with a .303 batting average and three runs batted in and two scored. Connor Wrye is the team’s leader with 13 RBI and is second, behind Cody Den Beste (9), with eight runs scored.

The Cardinals are tossing freshman right hander Eric Foshee (1-1, 3.24 ERA) against the Panthers. He has two starts this season, one against Illinois and the other versus Manhattan. He pitched 2.1 innings in his first collegiate game and allowed four runs (three earned) on six hits. He worked six innings of one-hit baseball in his second start.

He is expected to be opposed by junior right-hander Cassidy Land (0-1, 6.10). He has one start on the year and 10.1 innings pitched. He lasted 5.1 innings in his lone start, at Sam Houston State, and gave up five runs on 10 hits and two strikeouts.

Northwestern State has two midweek matchups before they pay visit to “The Beck” on Friday, first at home against Louisiana-Monroe on Tuesday and then at Louisiana-Lafayette on Wednesday. The Demons swept Sacred Heart over the weekend for their first series win of the season.

Lamar has a 60-44 all-time record over NSU, and 37-21 advantage at Vincent-Beck Stadium. The Southland Conference foe knocked the Cardinals out of the league tournament last season in Conway, Ark., the only time they played that year.

Chase Daughdrill is the team leader at the plate in batting average, .310, and is third in runs batted in (5) and first in runs scored (9). CJ Webster is the team’s leader in runs batted in with seven, followed by Cort Brinson’s six.

Josh Oller (2-0, 2.11) has been the Demons’ top pitcher this season on three starts and 21.1 innings worked. His younger brother and reigning league freshman of the year Adam Oller is 1-1 with a 2.37 earned run average.