Final Stats

WACO - Lamar tried to strike a ninth inning rally, but eight runs in the middle three innings was too much for the Cardinals to overcome in an 8-6 loss to Baylor at the Baylor Ballpark on Tuesday afternoon in non-conference baseball action.

Baylor's (16-24) freshman reliever Troy Montemayor struck out the first batter of the ninth, but a rally from Lamar's (18-21) top of the lineup (back-to-back hits by CJ Moore and Reed Seeley) chased him for Joe Kirkland.

Stijn van der Meer loaded the bases with a single into right field, his career-high fourth hit of the night. Jake Nash rolled over a pitch and pushed it down the third base line, but hustled to beat out the throw for an infield single and run batted in. Two batters later, Salazar singled up the middle to score another, but the game was ended a called strike low in the zone to Brandon Provost.

After two runs from the Bears in each the fourth and fifth frames for a 4-0 lead, Kyle Markum put a three-spot on the board for LU in the sixth with homer over the left field wall that scored Seeley and van der Meer. Seeley reached on a walk, van der Meer a single.

Baylor answered that with a four-spot in the bottom of the sixth to give it the largest lead of the game at 8-3. Justin Arrington led the inning off with a walk issued from reliever Brett Brown. Darryn Sheppard followed with a double to the center field wall to put men on second and third.

Leadoff hitter Logan Brown slapped a two-run double to left center, and later scored himself on a double steal that had the pickoff throw roll in to left field. Adam Toth scored on a RBI-single from Kameron Esthay.

Van der Meer closed the gap to 8-4 with on a two-out shot over the right field wall. It was the first of his career at Lamar.

Of the eight runs pushed across in the middle frames by BU, four were scored by Esthay and Mitch Price. Esthay also knocked in another.

Lamar went through 10 pitchers in the game, and freshman right-hander Eric Foshee (2-4) started it off. He worked three innings and gave up two runs on three hits and two walks. He had one perfect inning. The Vidor native was taken out in the fourth inning after he surrendered a leadoff homer to Esthay and a double to Price.

No other Cardinal pitcher worked more than one frame.

Kody Hessemer took over as the Bears' win leader (4) with the victory Tuesday. He pitched five complete and gave up two runs on five hits and two walks. The junior came out for the sixth, but was pulled after he walked Seeley and allowed a single to van der Meer.

Montemayor worked through the eighth and retired one in the ninth, but was pulled after he gave up the back-to-back singles. Kirkland earned his first save of the season with two strikeouts.

Lamar accounted for more hits than Baylor (15-10), but left 10 stranded, five in scoring position.

Van der Meer was the Cards' leading hitter on four base knocks in five at-bats, and Mason Salazar followed with three in five plate appearances. Moore and Provost each record two hits. Provost was a substitute in the sixth inning for Justin Eckols.

LU opens a crucial Southland Conference series on Friday at 6 o'clock against Incarnate Word. The second game of the three-game set is scheduled for 2:00 on Saturday and the finale at 1:00 on Sunday.

Lamar has one final midweek game of the season. It comes against Texas Southern at 4:00 April 29 at Vincent-Beck Stadium.