BASEBALL: Lamar stuns PV with six-run ninth

Published 10:56 pm Saturday, February 23, 2019

BEAUMONT — Miracles still happen at Vincent-Beck Stadium.
Headed for what would have been their fourth consecutive loss, the Lamar Cardinals scored six runs — all with two outs — and ended their skid with a 7-6 win over the Prairie View Panthers on Saturday night.

Canadian Anthony Quirion, who walked to begin the inning and was tagged on Avery George’s fielder’s choice for the second out, delivered a one-run double on Lamar’s 10th at-bat of the inning to complete the comeback. Lamar (4-3) scored on a passed ball, Robin Adames single, walk, Chase Kemp’s two-run single and Quirion’s double.

“I just think we had some luck, finally,” Cardinals coach Will Davis said. “We hit some balls hard, and they made some great plays. Their third baseman, shortstop and second baseman all played good defense, and we finally found some holes. [Jorge] Gutierrez smoked two balls, I think double-play balls, that went 100 [mph] off the bat. So, it felt like we couldn’t get the big hit, and some of it was just bad luck.”

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Kemp, a sophomore from Nederland, went 1 for 4, but was the only Cardinal with multiple runs batted in. Cole Coker went 3 for 4 and Reese Durand hit 2 for 4 in the win.

Durand, a true freshman from Jasper, is hitting .583 on the season. He was 3 for 4 going into Saturday’s game and flew out to right field for the first out.

The Cardinals outhit the Southwestern Athletic Conference’s Panthers 12-7, hammering out 6 in the final inning.

“I feel like our offense has a lot of talent,” Davis said. “It feels like so many different guys are close to busting out. I think you saw that in the ninth inning.”

Prairie View scored three each in the fifth and seventh innings. The three in the fifth came as Lamar’s defense misplayed a hit from Alex Martinez that dropped between three defenders for a double.

Douglas Palmer (1-0) too the win after allowing three unearned runs on three hits and striking out two Panthers. Starter Noah Sills struck out four but gave up three earned runs on four hits in six innings.

Tyler Laux (1-1) took the defeat after giving up Kemp’s and Quirion’s big hits. Those were the only batters Laux faced.

PV starter Kyle Smith scattered seven hits and held Lamar to one run over eight innings. Cameron Cooper faced eight batters and sat down two before walking three and allowing two hits.

Demarie’ Smith and Dalton Horner each had two hits to lead Prairie View. Martinez went 1 for 4, but batted in the three runs.

Lamar will take on Central Michigan at 1 p.m. Sunday in the final game of the Cardinal Classic. Grason Wright will start on the mound for the Cards.

Central Michigan beat Lamar 4-2 on Friday.

I.C. Murrell: 721-2435. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews

About I.C. Murrell

I.C. Murrell was promoted to editor of The News, effective Oct. 14, 2019. He previously served as sports editor since August 2015 and has won or shared eight first-place awards from state newspaper associations and corporations. He was born in Memphis, Tennessee, grew up mostly in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and graduated from the University of Arkansas at Monticello.

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