April 17, 2013

Box Score

BEAUMONT – Lance Warren set the tone early on Wednesday night and the rest of the Cardinal pitching staff followed suit as the Lamar baseball team picked up a 4-0 win over former conference foe UTSA at Vincent-Beck Stadium.

Warren, who was making his second career start on the mound, tossed two hitless innings and walked two. Will Hibbs struck out three and allowed a hit in the third, and Angelle gave up a hit in the fourth. From there, the quartet of J.T. Autrey, Jayson McKinley, Hunter Perry and Brett Brown held the Roadrunners without a hit into the ninth before Ben Coram gave up a lead-off single.

The win was the sixth shutout of the season, and the first since last month’s 1-0 18-inning marathon against McNeese State.

The pitching staff certainly had a lot of help defensively, led by the trio of Brad Picha, V.J. Bunner and Sam Bumpers, who combined for four double plays, bringing LU’s conference-leading total to 39 on the year.

The Cards only allowed one Roadrunner to move into scoring position on the night.

With the win, Lamar improved to 27-11 on the year, and UTSA dropped to 19-17.

At the plate, both Picha and Bunner combined to go 2-for-4, and Darian Johnson was 1-for-4 with a pair of scores. Garret Autrey and Aaron Olivas also collected hits and each drove in a run.

LU opened the scoring in the first. Johnson reached on a fielder’s choice and later moved into scoring position on a Picha single. Bunner followed up with a double down the left field line, plating Johnson, but unfortunately for the Cards, the throw beat Picha home to end the frame.

In the fifth, Dornak led off the inning with a double to left, and an Autrey sacrifice bunt and Olivas single brought him home.

LU loaded the bases with one out in the ensuing frame, and Jake Sutton and Autrey made the most of it, grounding into a fielder’s choice and singling, respectively, to double the Cardinal advantage.

After taking three out of the last four games at Vincent-Beck, the Red and White will look to take the success on the road with a three-game set at Northwestern State this weekend. The series will begin Friday night in Natchitoches, and first pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

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