BEAUMONT, Texas – On a brutally windy day at Vincent-Beck Stadium, Lamar University offense – led by Chad Fleischman's 4-of-4 day – found a way to pound out 15 hits to back starter Carson Lance's 7 2/3 innings outing in a 9-6 win over Incarnate Word Friday afternoon in Southland Conference baseball action.
 
The game was moved up Friday to avoid a front expected to blow in Friday night, but the full effects were shown as the wind constantly howled in from centerfield at 20 miles per hour.
 
"Fortunately we're used to the wind at The Beck. We know how it is," said head coach Will Davis. "We have some big strong kids, and the wind didn't really stop them. We still hit a few doubles and a home run. We had some great at-bats and struck out zero times. We continued to put balls in play and put pressure on their defense."
 
Fleishman was responsible for four runs batted in of the nine run outburst scored by LU (13-10, 2-5 Southland) with two singles and two double alone. Down 2-1 in the fourth inning, the junior college transfer drove in the tying run in Trey Silvers – who drove in Big Red's first run in the first inning. Silvers drew a walk and took second on Bryndan Arreodondo's single through the left side.
 
Fleischman's double was followed by a RBI-ground out from Phil Ingram that gave LU a 3-2 lead.
 
Tied at 4-4, Fleischman was clutch again in the sixth. Back-to-back doubles from Silvers and Arredondo put runners on second and third, and Fleischman lined one right over Lee Thomas' glove at first base. Silvers scored on the play and Arredondo later crossed on a single to left from Ingram that put Big Red up 6-4. Lamar never gave up the lead again.
 
Fleischman helped put the game away in the seventh. With runners on second and third bases – both on hit by pitches – and two outs, the Minnesota native drove one that landed in front of a diving outfielder to make it 8-4. After UIW cut it to 8-6 in the eighth, Robin Adames chased home Cutter McDowell on a single to left field. McDowell started the rally with a one-out single through the right side and took second base with a walk issued to Reid Russell.
 
"After playing teams like Sam Houston and Southeastern (Louisiana), teams who bunt a lot, it was important for us to have a sound defender (at third base)," said Davis. "We knew (Fleischman's) bat would come, and today we saw what it was capable of doing. He played great."
 
Russell was responsible for the lone run scored in the fifth inning, but it was done in impressive fashion. The senior blistered a two-ball, one-strike pitch into the wind that found its way over the left centerfield wall. That homer was his 24^th career blast, tied for 7^th all-time, and he claimed the title for most long balls for two-year player in school history.
 
"I've been fortunate to coach some players with some real power, guys have made it far in their careers, and I would put his power up with any of them," said Davis. "He's become such a complete hitter this year and is a force for us. When you have a guy that can get on once every other at-bat, it's pretty special."
 
Lance (4-2) was a force on the mound Friday with just two earned runs allowed. He gave up three hits and walked four, but two infield errors inflated his runs. After he retired the last batter of the first inning, Lance worked through three perfect innings and did not allowed another base runner until the fifth.
 
He gave up a single in the first, but the next hit for UIW wasn't until the sixth. He stuck out two batters on the day.
 
"That's what we recruited him for. We were so excited about him coming in because we felt like he could really make a difference," said Davis. "He's starting to come into his own. We only used 13 pitches out of the bullpen because of what he did today."
 
Tanner Driskill relieved him in the eighth inning with a runner on first and two outs, but all Driskill needed was two pitches to get out of it. He came on in the ninth and was perfect to earn his first career save at LU.
 
UIW tossed three pitchers in the game and Tyler Lesley (0-3) started and took the loss. He worked five innings with five runs allowed on nine hits and two walks.  Luke Taggert took over with a runner on second in the sixth and gave up four hits in two frames. He allowed three runs, and Tyler Miller pitched the final frame with a run allowed on two hits and a walk.
 
Along with Fleischman's multi-hit day, McDowell, Russell, Adames, Silver and Arredondo all had two hits in the game. All five were preseason All-Southland Conference picks. Both Russell and Arredondo were 2-of-3 with three runs scored, and Russell added an RBI. Silvers was 2-of-4 with two runs and an RBI.  
 
LU drew three walks and did not strikeout – a first since May 4, 2014 against Houston Baptist. The veteran unit again showed its ability to respond to runs scored on it. In the last two contests, LU allowed at least one run in six innings, but it's responded in the next frame in five of them. The lone inning that was not answered was a single run against Northwestern State.
 
The Cardinals will try for the series win Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. with Jimmy Johnson (1-2, 3.12 earned run average) on the hill against UIW's Bernie Martinez (3-0, 1.15).