Lamar sports information

BEAUMONT – A one-run game in the fourth inning, bad luck and a couple of mental mistakes allowed Northwestern State (17-14) to expand its lead to a considerable margin against Lamar (7-26).

The Demons took a 15-3 decision at Vincent-Beck on Tuesday in non-conference action.

Northwestern State jumped out to an early lead with three runs on four hits in the top of the first, but momentum seemed to be shifting Lamar’s way in the bottom of the second. Robin Adames reached safely and advanced to second on an error to lead off, and a wild pitch in Cole Girouard’s at-bat pushed the junior from The Bronx, N.Y., to third. Girouard collected an RBI on a sac fly to left center, pulling the Cards within two.

Taylor Rich sat down the Demons in order in the top of the third, and Big Red again scored in the bottom of the inning to pull within striking distance. Philip Ingram stretched his team-best hit streak to nine games with a single to right center to lead off the inning but expired on a fielder’s choice during Cole Coker’s at-bat. Adames came to the plate with two outs and doubled Coker home on a 2-0 count, and after three innings Northwestern State led by just one run, 3-2.

Neither team scored in the fourth, but five Cardinal errors and several hits allowed Northwestern State to string together big innings in the fifth, sixth, and seventh to put the game out of reach.

The Cardinals will return to action on Friday in the first of three Southland Conference games at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, then travel to Northwestern State next Tuesday for the finale of the non-conference series between the Cards and Demons. Lamar returns home on April 20 for a three-game series against Abilene Christian.