Lamar sports information

NATCHITOCHES, La. — For the first time since the 2016 campaign started on Feb. 19, the Lamar baseball team will hit the road for a contest away from Vincent-Beck Stadium when the Cardinals open Southland Conference play at Northwestern State in a weather-altered three-game series that now starts in a Saturday doubleheader.
Louisiana has suffered from heavy rains and floods, and that forced the programs to alter the weekend plans. The first game of the tilt is slated for 1 p.m. and will open a Saturday twin bill, and the finale will stick to its original 1 p.m. start on Sunday.
Quite possibly the two most traditionally proud teams in the Southland Conference, the Cardinals (9-4) lead the Demons (6-6) in the all-time series 60-47, but the last five contests have swung toward NSU, including a three-game sweep in Beaumont last year.
Lamar hasn’t made a trip to NSU since 2013, and it swept the Demons in a three-game set then.
Both teams enter the series with their last games being interrupted because of weather, LU’s at home against Rice and Northwestern State’s on the road at Texas A&M. NSU’s game against A&M was the second of a two-game midweek series. In the first, the Demons made a comeback bid that fell short and lost 7-6.
Game 1’s contest is expected to feature two of the Southland Conference’s top pitchers, both righties, in Will Hibbs (2-0, 2.25 ERA) and Adam Oller (1-0, 1.02). Hibbs took a win in his last outing against UT Rio Grande Valley on eight innings of work with just one earned run allowed. Oller downed Arizona, the only common opponent between the two squads, with one earned run allowed in six frames.
The Cardinals are expected to toss right-hander Jayson McKinley (1-0, 1.20) on Saturday and RHP Billy Love (0-0, 1.46) on Sunday.
Lamar enters the game with four .300-plus hitters on the season, led by Bryndan Arredondo at .465.
He ranks third in the Southland Conference and 37th in the nation. Reid Russell is hitting .327 on the year followed by Cutter McDowell (.314) and Jake Nash (.302).
As a team the Cardinals are hitting .283 and scoring at a 5.8 runs per game clip. Both Nash and Jacoby Middleton are tied for the team lead in RBI at12 and Nash leads the way in runs scored with 10.
Nash is looking to continue where he left off with the huge week he had against Prairie View and UT Rio Grande Valley, where he had eight RBI and four runs scored. He broke out of a cold spell that started the season in the fifth game of the year. He has since hit .378 with 12 runs driven in and nine more scored. He hit his first career homer against PVAMU on Tuesday.
Bret Underwood, who is in his first year after a season-ending injury a year ago, is leading the Demons with a .356 batting average with a home run and triple with three doubles. Matthew Alford and reigning Southland Conference Hitter of the Week Daniel Garner top the team in RBI at 12 and 11, respectively. Nick Heath is the top Demon in terms of runs scored at 12.
As a team, they hit for a .280 average with 5.2 runs per game pace.
After the midweek contest against Houston at 6 p.m. Tuesday, the Cardinals host Central Arkansas at The Beck for a Friday-Sunday series that starts at 6:00 Friday night.