March 14, 2008
Box Score
ARLINGTON, Texas - Lamar got 12 base hits from eight starters and scored in five of the first seven innings to defeat Texas-Arlington, 13-7, in the Southland Conference opener for both teams at Clay Gould Ballpark Friday.
Lamar (10-6, 1-0 SLC) won its conference opener for the second-consecutive year and extended its streak over UTA (5-11, 0-1 SLC) to seven straight.
Four Cardinals had two hits apiece and got clutch hits all game long. After leaving 21 men on base in their last two games, Lamar hitters drove in 10 of the 13 runs and had a season-high three sacrifice flies. The Cardinals had their leadoff man reach base in five of the first seven innings, with four of those batters coming around to score as well.
Lamar pounded out seven singles and a double off two UTA pitchers and chased starter Nathan Long (3-1) from the game after plating 10 runs on nine hits in 3.2 innings. Long entered the game with a 2.14 earned run average, which ranked first on the team among starters and fourth in the conference.
Centerfielder Anthony Moore went 2-for-5 with three runs and an RBI. Brian Taylor, Chris Dunkin and Tyler Link also had two hits, while Jeff Vickers tied his season-high with three RBI.
With the score tied at 1-1 after two innings, Lamar scored three in the third before erupting for six runs on four hits in the fourth to take a 9-1 lead. UTA got two runs back in the bottom of the fifth before Lamar countered with two of its own in the sixth. The Mavericks' most productive inning came in their half of the sixth when they scored three runs.
Starter Matt Morgal (2-1) worked into the sixth as he struck out one and allowed six runs. Ricky Testa allowed one hit and struck out one in 2.2 innings of work before Justin Walker finished the game by recording the final three outs in the ninth.
Lamar and UTA will play again on Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. to close out their series.
