BEAUMONT –With the go-ahead run sitting at third, due to the passed ball, the infield was drawn in, and Crites hit one past third baseman
Robin Adames and scored the winning run. The score gave Southeastern Louisiana (35-12, 21-3) the 2-1 win over the Cardinals in Southland Conference action at Vincent-Beck Stadium Sunday afternoon.
The win gave SLU the sweep of Lamar (31-15, 16-8), the first it has suffered all season.
The league's top hitter (in terms of average), Jameson Fisher, stepped into the box to lead off the eighth inning and roped a double into left center field. In the first pitch of Crites' sequence, he squared to bunt and a high fastball got by both he and LU catcher
Bryndan Arredondo.
New pitcher
Enrique Oquendo, who entered after Fisher's hit, worked it to a 2-2 count before Crites hit a bouncing grounder past the drawn-in Adames.
Travis Moore (2-2) was tagged with the loss despite his fabulous outing. His only mistake was to Fisher in the third inning he saw action in.
Moore took the mound after the bases were loaded on walks in the sixth inning by a tired starter in
Jimmy Johnson. The senior lefty took the mound and struck out SLU's Webb Bobo and Sam Roberson to end the frame. He allowed a one-out walk in the seventh, but another couple of punch outs ended the threat. He ended his day with 1 2/3 innings pitched with the lone run allowed.
Johnson, in his first career start, was also solid. He pitched 5 2/3 with a run allowed on six hits and three walks. All of his walks were in that sixth inning. He worked in and out of several jams, which raised his pitch count.
The Lions were able to get to him in the second inning when a single and stolen base from Bobo put a man in scoring position for Jacob Seward to score him on a sinking line drive to center field. Johnson ended that inning with a pickoff of Seward.
The Cardinals took advantage of an error to score their lone run in the third inning. Freshman designated hitter
Ryan Erickson reached on a fielding error by shortstop Brennan Breaud. He took second on
Stijn van der Meer's single to left and third on
Cutter McDowell's infield single. The bases were loaded for team RBI-leader
Reid Russell, who bounced into a fielder's choice and scored Erickson.
The Cardinals came away with six hits, led by McDowell's (2-of-4) and van der Meer's (2-of-3) two. Arredondo and
Jacoby Middleton came up with the others.
Arredondo laced a two-out double to left center in the sixth, but nothing came of it, and Middleton hit a smoked single down the line in the second.
Domenick Carlini (6-1) earned the win on 7 2/3 innings pitched. He gave up the lone run, unearned, on six hits and two walks. Josh Green picked up his second save of the series and season with a 1 1/3 perfect outing.
With Monday's game against Houston canceled, the Cardinals turn their sights to making a play for the second seed of the SLC Tournament when they host Sam Houston State. That three-game set starts at 6 p.m. Friday night.