Feb. 26, 2011

Box Score

BEAUMONT, Texas - Lamar University's baseball team ran its early-season winning streak to four games Saturday by notching a pair of one-run decisions over North Dakota State University.

Ted Zentek's clutch, 11th-inning, RBI single boosted the 5-3 Cardinals to their 4-3 victory in the opener, while the relief pitching of Machon Trimm and Shane Hamaker highlighted Lamar's 2-1 squeaker in the nightcap.

Machon Trimm relieved ineffective starter Albert Lott in the second inning and earned his first major college victory with a strong four-inning stint. The 6-foot-2, 197-pound junior left-hander allowed three hits and no runs. He struck out two batters and walked none.

Hamaker finished up and picked up his first major college save with 4.0 innings over which he yielded two hits and one unearned run. The 6-5 junior from Pasadena by way of Alvin Community College struck out two and walked one and pitched his way out of a two-on and two-out jam in the ninth inning.

While the Cardinals committed three errors in the opener and two more in the nightcap, the defense still helped the cause by turning a combined six double plays during the twinbill, including four in the nightcap.

"I would rather win by more comfortable margins, but the one thing we've done well in our three, one-run wins this season is turn the double play," said Jim Gilligan, the Cardinals' head coach. "In our 1-0 win over Akron in the Mississippi State Tournament, we ended three-straight innings with double plays."

The Cardinals got both of their runs in the second inning of the nightcap on an RBI double by catcher Cameron Campbell and a run-scoring groundout by second baseman Andrew Dewey.

Sophomore right-hander Mark Hermes was the hard-luck loser for the Bison, who fell to 0-6 on the season. He went the distance and gave up five hits while striking three and walking four.

Zentek slashed his game-winning single into left field in the bottom of the 11th inning to drive in Salinas to end the three-hour and eight-minute marathon witnessed by a crowd of 770 in Vincent-Beck Stadium. Salinas opened the inning with a double into the gap in left centerfield, and Campbell promptly sacrificed him to third base with a well-placed bunt in front of home plate.

The Cardinals fell behind by three runs in the early going but got back into it by scoring two runs in the sixth inning and the tying run in the eighth.

Zentek and Aaron Buchanan opened the sixth inning with back-to-back singles, and they each advanced a base on a balk by Bison starting pitcher Simon Anderson. Zentek scored on a groundout by Clayton Farhat, and Buchanan came in moments later on a sacrifice fly by Kevin Roebuck.

Roebuck drew a one-out walk in the eighth inning and eventually scored the go-ahead run on back-to-back singles by Wade Mathis and Jude Vidrine.

The Cardinals and the Bison will wrap up their four-game series Sunday with a 10 a.m. start. Junior right-hander Eric Harrington, who was the winning pitcher in Tuesday's 12-7 victory over 22nd-ranked Rice University, is the expected starter for the Cardinals.

LAMAR