ABILENE, Texas – Jacoby Middleton's diving play in right field with Wildcats on first and second preserved a 7-5 lead and ended a furious ninth-inning rally from Abilene Christian, which gave the Lamar University baseball team its  10^th-straight victory Sunday afternoon at Crtucher Scott Field in non-conference action.
 
The game was seemingly in hand with a 7-1 lead for LU (20-7), which notched its third-straight weekend series week Sunday, but ACU (10-17) chipped away in the ninth with four Wildcat hits and two errors on the Cardinals. The win streak is the longest the Cardinals have earned since they won 12 in the early part of the 2013 season.
 
Enrique Oquendo returned the mound with 1.1 innings of work already and gave up a leadoff single to Alex Copeland on a 1-2 count. Heath Beasley singled to left center and advanced to third, sending Copeland home, on an error charged to shortstop Stijn van der Meer.
 
Oquendo struck out pinch hitter Trey Albaugh and forced Mark Pearson to roll over a ground ball to third base, but Beasley was able to score on the play. Willie Harris smoked a two-out triple to left center, and Derek Scott reached on an error by Cutter McDowell, which allowed Harris to score.
 
After Hunter Markwardt drew a full-count walk, Oquendo was lifted for Jimmy Johnson. Alex Check singled up the middle on Johnson, scoring Scott and putting men on first and second with two outs. Kyle Carroll stepped to the plate for Gunny Evans and hit a laser to right that Middleton was able to corral on a dive and lock up the win.
 
The Cardinals took advantage of early Wildcat miscues to gain a lead in the contest. Jake Nash sent home van der Meer from third base and reached on an infield error. Van der Meer opened the game on a double to right center and went to third on a passed ball.
 
With the double, van der Meer pushed his team-leading hit streak to 17 games. Reid Russell was 0-for-5, which snapped his streak of 18-straight.
 
Back-to-back outs in the first brought up Cutter McDowell with Nash still at first, and McDowell answered with a single. Two-straight walks to Middleton and Trey Silvers loaded the bags and scored a run before Gavin Tristan made it 3-0 on a single down the third base line.
 
In the fourth, LU had a man of first (van der Meer) and third (Tristan), and both set to steal. Van der Meer stole second base and took third on an error and Tristan made it home successfully on the double-steal.
 
Nash singled into the left field which sent home van der Meer and notched Nash's second of three RBI  in the contest.
 
The final two runs of the game for LU were scored in the eighth inning. Nash stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and singled to right center and scored Trey Silvers, who reached on a single to central. Satran, who reached when he was hit by a pitch, scored from third on a double-play ball that catcher Bryndan Arredondo was able to beat.
 
Jayson McKinley started the game for the Cardinals and improved his record to 2-0 on the season. He worked 6.2 innings with only one run allowed and scattered six hits. Oquendo gave up four runs, none were earned, on two innings of work with two punchouts.
 
Jimmy Johnson earned his second save of the weekend and fifth of the season with just 1/3 of an inning pitched and one hit allowed.
 
The top three batters in the LU order- van der Meer, Nash and Arredondo- finished the game 8-of-15 (.533) with three runs and four RBI. Van der Meer recorded a 4-of-5 day, first four-hit game for him this season and third for LU. Nash was 2-of-5 as well as Arredondo. Trey Silvers recorded a 2-for-4 ball game with one run and RBI.
 
Drew Hanson (1-2) suffered the loss on 3.1 frames of work with five runs allowed, one earned, on five hits and three walks.

Lamar returns to action at Vincent-Beck Stadium with another familiar foe in non-conference action, Nicholls. Just like the ACU series, the games will be out of Southland Conference play. The two teams square off for action on Tuesday (6 p.m.) and Wednesday (3 p.m.).