Lamar sports information

BEAUMONT — Jumping out to an early 3-1 lead, Lamar (4-9) fought through a tough two-run fourth to retake the lead in the sixth, prevailing over UTRGV (7-5) on Sunday with a 5-3 win. Jack Dallas of West Orange-Stark notched his first collegiate win, and Kristjan Storrie took home his first Cardinal save.

Philip Ingram (2-of-3, one walk, one RBI, one run scored) and Cole Coker (2-of-4, two RBI, one run scored) led the way at the plate.

“I told our guys that we’re a good team and we easily could have won four of the games we dropped during this streak,” said head coach Will Davis. “We’ve lost three games so far where we had the walk-off run in scoring position, and you’d think in one of those something would break our way. In another game we had the tying run thrown out at the plate to end the game. Our record could be totally reversed, but it’s not. So, we want to come out here every day and just try to go 1-0. We’re going to take it one game at a time, and the great think about having young, talented players is that they’re going to get better as the season progresses.”

The Vaqueros struck first, scoring just the second run that Big Red has allowed in the first inning this season on two singles and two walks. Both LU starter Grason Wright and UTRGV starter Chase Adams struggled to find a shifting, narrow zone in the opening inning as the two pitchers combined for over 60 pitches in the first.

Lamar jumped on Adams’ mistakes, with Ingram, Chase Whetsel, Coker, and Grant DeVore all collecting hits while Robin Adames and Tyrese Clayborne drew walks. Coker’s double came with the bases loaded and one out, scoring Whetsel and Ingram, and DeVore notched his fourth RBI of the year on a single through the left side. After one inning Lamar led 3-1.

“We knew that [UTRGV’s starter Chase Adams] would be really tough against right-handed hitters so we just stacked all the left-handed hitters around Robin and it worked out,” said Davis. “We got Cole [Coker] up there in the five spot and he ripped that double to score a couple of runs.”

Both Wright and Adames locked in for the next two innings, with each starter sitting down the next six batters they faced, respectively.

UTRGV began to put the pressure on in the fourth, putting runners on first and second with one out. A double to left center field on the ninth pitch of Noah Lee’s at-bat advanced everyone two bases, scoring a run. Dallas relieved Wright, and a wild pitch allowed the runner on third to score. But the Vaqueros got greedy, and Chad McKinney

threw out Conrad McMahon as he attempted to steal second. On a 3-2 count Dallas bent the knees of Coleman Grubbs, striking him out looking. The score was tied at 3-3 and would remain tied until the bottom of the sixth thanks to terrific work by Dallas.

Coker singled to left center field to lead off the sixth for LU and stole second with Clayborne at the plate. A wild pitch during DeVore’s at-bat put Coker on third before DeVore joined him on the base paths thanks to a four-pitch walk from Adams. The UTRGV starter walked Leal to load the bases, and walked Ingram in four pitches, giving Lamar a 4-3 lead on an RBI walk. That finished the day for Adams, who threw 111 pitches with six hits and five runs, four earned while walking four. A passed ball during Whetsel’s at-bat allowed DeVore to score unearned, and Lamar took a 5-3 lead into the seventh inning with Marcus Olivarez relieving Dallas.

Olivarez shined through two scoreless innings, allowing just two hits, and Storrie relieved Olivarez to open the ninth. The junior transfer from Langley, B.C., held on for the save, preserving a 5-3 win for Lamar.

Cardinal fans will have plenty of opportunities to catch Big Red in action over the next two weeks with seven consecutive home games. The Cards will host Rice (5-6) on Wednesday and will then open Southland Conference play with a three-game homestand against Sam Houston State (7-3) from March 9-11. A three-game SLC series against Southeastern Louisiana (7-4) March 16-18 will wrap the homestand.