BEAUMONT — This much is known: Southeastern Louisiana will not leave Beaumont without the lead in the Southland Conference baseball standings.

SELA plated eight runs in the fifth inning to overcome a 5-1 hole and chase Will Hibbs, and the Lions rolled to an 14-6 win over Lamar before 741 at Vincent-Beck Stadium. The win increased the Lions’ lead over the Cardinals in the conference race to three games, with two remaining in this big series for both teams.

Sam Houston State (30-17, 18-4) is still one game behind SELA after defeating Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 6-1 on Friday.

Hibbs (9-2, 2.46 ERA) has been a model of consistency for the Lamar pitching staff this season. He had gone nine games without a defeat and posted a 7-0 mark in that span, last losing a game on March 12 at Northwestern State.

After holding the Lions (33-13, 19-3) to one run on two hits through four innings, the reigning National Collegiate Baseball Writers of America was worn down for five earned runs on six hits in the fifth with one out.

Jameson Fisher, whose .444 batting average led the nation going into the game, started the rally with a one-run double. Hibbs struck out the next batter and induced a 3-2 throwout at the plate with bases loaded before Ryan Byers sent a three-run home run over left field to tie the game at 5-5.

Byers, who went 2 for 5, drove in five runs, with two more coming on a ninth-inning triple.

The Lions scored four more runs on four hits before the Cardinals (31-13, 16-6) could stop the bleeding. In all, SELA scored nine runs with two outs.

Lamar was doing the damage early on, much of it in the form of Trey Silvers’ three-run jack over left center in the fourth. The homer was Silvers’ fifth, and he finished the game 3 for 4.

Reid Russell slapped a one-run double in the first and one-run single in the third to give the Cards a 2-1 lead. Russell was 2 for 4.

The Cards threatened in the bottom of the sixth with three straight singles to load the bases, but Josh Green struck out Russell and Robin Adames to end the threat.

Kyle Cedotal (5-4, 2.47) won after allowing five earned runs on eight hits in five full innings. He struck out six.

Green threw four scoreless innings and yielded five hits for Southeastern. Drew Avans and Byers each had two hits.

Hibbs, who fanned six, was one of seven Cardinals to toe the rubber. Stijn van der Meer, Cutter McDowell, Reid Russell and Bryndan Arredondo each shelled out two hits.

Lamar has now lost three in a row, tying a season-long string set during the North Dakota State series in late February. The margin of defeat is also the largest of the season for LU, surpassing Wednesday’s 7-2 loss at Rice.

Game 2 is scheduled for 2 p.m. today, with Billy Love (5-2, 2.48 ERA) taking the mound for Lamar against Mac Sceroler (8-2, 2.00). Sunday’s game pits Jimmy Johnson, who threw two-thirds in relief of Hibbs, against Domenick Carlini.