SUGAR LAND — The power swings that helped Lamar sweep Stephen F. Austin in its most recent series did nothing to rattle a Central Arkansas freshman on the mound.
Cody Davenport did not give up a hit through four innings and threw 8 1/3 innings of scoreless ball with eight strikeouts, as the fifth-seeded Bears stunned fourth-seeded Lamar 3-0 before 1,761 in the Southland Conference opener at Constellation Field. The result leaves coach Jim Gilligan one loss away from an earlier-than-wanted retirement after 39 seasons coaching the Cardinals.
“Davenport, their pitcher, I thought, was exceptional,” Gilligan said. “He had some really good stuff up there for nine innings. Again, we let the park play against us. We’ve got to make adjustments.”
Will Hibbs (9-3), who has not recorded a win in his last four outings, lasted 6 1/3 innings, struck out five and gave up three earned runs on five hits. The runs all came in the seventh inning.
“I purposely took a little [velocity] off to make sure I could hit spots within the umpire’s zone,” Hibbs said. “Obviously, I was getting a little tired. I thought we made some of the pitches, but the way they hit the ball, they hit it where we weren’t.”
Seven-hole batter Hunter Strong, another freshman, singled up the middle to produce the first run. Justin McCarty followed with a hit to score Strong, chasing Hibbs, and Ty Tice executed a squeeze bunt off Fernando Martinez, who gave up two singles before escaping more trouble and finishing with three hits allowed on the night.
Lamar (35-18) suffered just its fourth shutout of the season after outscoring SFA 35-15 on the road last week. Freshman Robin Adames went 2 for 4, twice putting Lamar in scoring position, but the wind blowing from right-center field in kept any potential long ball in the minor-league park southwest of Houston.
Twice Reid Russell, the newly crowned Southland Hitter of the Year, hit hard to deep left field, but it stayed in for a flyout.
Lamar had Adames at second and Jacoby Middleton (hit batsman) on first and second in the fifth before Brendan Satran struck out to end that threat.
Stijn van der Meer led off the Cardinal sixth with a single, but was stranded at second. Bryndan Arredondo made it to third thanks to an Adames single before Davenport got Middleton and Satran to fly out to center.
Tyler Gray pitched the final two-thirds innings for the win, including an Adames fly out and Middleton walk before striking out Satran to leave two on.
“We got outplayed,” Gilligan said. “Not outhustled. Not anything else. Just they did it in that one inning, and that’s what it took for them to win.”
If it’s any good news for the Cardinals, they get to play a noon game against a team it just swept. SFA lost 5-3 to rival Sam Houston State earlier Wednesday afternoon. Billy Love (5-4, 3.76 ERA) will start for Lamar.
Today’s Lamar-SFA winner will face the SHSU-UCA loser at noon Friday and would have to beat the SHSU-UCA winner twice to make the Saturday night championship game.