May 8, 2009
Box Score
Michael Putman made his only base hit of the game count as he delivered a 3-run home run in a five-run fifth to lead UT Arlington to a 9-4 win over Lamar in the first game of a Southland Conference series at Vincent-Beck Stadium Friday night.
Lamar (32-19, 16-12 SLC) dropped the first game of a weekend series for just the third time all season. UTA (28=21, 18-10 SLC) meanwhile, move two games ahead of the Cardinals in the race for third and fourth place in the league standings. Lamar is now tied for fourth with Sam Houston State and UTSA, both of whom won on Friday.
Lamar was led by designated hitter Cameron Campbell who went 3-for-3 with a pair of RBI doubles and a sacrifice fly. Right fielder Quentin Luquette was also 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles and was the beneficiary of Campbell's RBIs on all three occasions.
LU starter Eric Harrington (7-1) suffered his first loss of the season after allowing all nine UTA runs on 11 hits over five innings. Ryan Robinson (6-2) went eight innings and scattered four runs on 11 hits over 125 pitches.
UTA got on the board first in the second inning when Matt Otteman led off with a double and scored when Andrew Kainer followed with a single through the right side. An inning later, Otteman hit a single to left to score Jay Pitschka and Kainer made it a 4-0 UTA lead with a two-out double that scored Michael Choice and Otteman.
Lamar plated an unearned run in the bottom of the third as Campbell scored on a botched play at third on a Brian Taylor come-backer to the mound that Robinson's throw was mishandled by Jeff Storms at third, allowing Campbell to score.
The Cardinals added a second run in the fourth when Campbell hit a 2-out double into the corner in left to score Luquette and cut the margin to 4-2.
UTA put some distance between itself and Lamar in the fifth with five runs on sixth hits. Pitschka scored from third on a Choice single to extend the lead to 5-2. Kainer drove in Tim Steggell on a double to left center, with the big blow coming when Putman hit a 3-run homer to left to extend the lead to 9-2.
Lamar scored single runs in the sixth and eighth when Luquette crossed home on a pair of balls off the bat of Campbell to close out the scoring.
Tyler Link extended his hitting streak to a career-best 11 games, while Luquette also continued his stretch of games with a hit to 10-straight.
For UTA, Kainer went 4-for-4 and improved upon his SLC-record hitting streak as he hit safely in his 36th-consecutive contest.
The teams will be back at it on Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.
