BEAUMONT, Texas – Lamar University's pitching stepped up again and led the Cardinals to its first Southland Conference sweep of the 2017 campaign on a 5-2 win Sunday afternoon over Incarnate Word in league action at Vincent-Beck Stadium.
 
Jace Campbell and Tanner Driskill (2-3) teamed up to hold UIW (13-12, 4-5 Southland) to just two runs in the game. Campbell tossed the first 4 1/3 innings for Lamar (15-10, 4-5) and gave up one run on five hits and two walks. The junior punched out four and left the game without a run allowed, but a runner on second that was his responsibility worked around to score.
 
Driskill – who took his first win out of the bullpen Sunday – pitched the final 4 2/3 with a single run given up on four hits and one walk. He struck out three batters.
 
"It was nice to have four guys step up this weekend like they did," said head coach Will Davis. "We've been fighting a little bit of an injury bug on our staff, and (Carson) Lance, (Jimmy) Johnson, Campbell and Driskill really played big when we needed them to."
 
Driskill's outing was the second relief appearance of the weekend after he took over for Lance Friday afternoon, and Johnson tossed a complete game Saturday.
 
Campbell minimized the two singles he suffered through the first three innings. He gave up a single to Mark Whitehead in the first, but took care of him with a double play. In the second, he allowed a single to Kyler Genebarcher, but struck out three in the frame and left untouched.
 
The first UIW Cardinal to reach scoring position on him was in the fourth, but Reid Russell took care of that threat with a play at the plate. Incarnate Word had runners on first and second and two outs when Bryce Sheppard lined a single to left, but Russell picked it up and tossed a dart to home plate and chopped down Lee Thomas, the lead runner.
 
Campbell's run was in the fifth and Driskill's in the sixth, but after those frames the junior right-hander settled in. Driskill worked a perfect seventh inning, and only an error allowed a runner to reach in the eighth. He came out in the ninth and put down two batters before a single up the middle from Whitehead, but finished the game on a liner to Chad Fleischman at third base.
 
Lamar's offense walked away with 14 base hits in the game, but the seven-, eight- and nine-hole hitters of the order really provided a spark with five hits in 12 at-bats. Phil Ingram – the eighth-hole hitter – was 2-for-4 on the day with two runs scored and RBI. He was the first Cardinal to score in the game, which tied the contest at 1-1.
 
"The back part of our lineup is really getting stronger," said Davis. "They are really making us a more complete lineup 1-9."
 
Ingram led off the fifth with a single to left field and advanced to third base on a nicely-executed hit-and-run from Grant DeVore, who shot a liner to right center. Ingram would later score on an infield grounder.
 
One inning later, Ingram gave LU a 3-2 lead on a passed ball.  The junior laced one-out single up the middle that scored Bryndan Arredondo from third – after he walked and Fleischman doubled. Ingram worked his way around to third and scored when UIW's John Shull (2-3) threw an outside pitch that got by catcher Sean Arnold.
 
The top of LU's lineup took care of the rest in the eighth inning. Cutter McDowell reached on a one-out single and took second when Cole Coker was plunked by a pitch. Two batters later, back-to-back singles from Robin Adames and Trey Silvers pushed across both to make it 5-2.
 
Both DeVore- ninth-hole hitter - and Arredondo finished with 2-for-4 days and followed Cutter McDowell's 3-of-5 contest. Every Cardinal in the order had at least one base knock. The group also drew four walks and a fifth free pass on Coker's hit-by-pitch.
 
Shull lasted 5 2/3 innings in his loss and gave up three runs on 10 hits and three walks. He was relieved in the sixth by Ramon Salazar. Salazar pitched 1 2/3 innings with the other two runs allowed on two hits and a walk. Cody Allen and Tyler Miller each pitched 1/3 of a frame, and Allen gave up two hits.
 
The home league sweep was the first in exactly a year when LU swept New Orleans on March 24-26. That was the fourth, fifth and sixth wins in the season-long 15-game win streak in 2016. The win improves LU to 13-2 at Vincent-Beck Stadium and is the seventh-straight win at home.
 
The Cardinals get back to action on Tuesday when they head to Louisiana to close out their three-game set with Northwestern State. Both Tuesday's and Wednesday's games are slated for 6 p.m. LU returns home for another Southland Conference weekend that starts at 6 p.m. Friday, this one against Houston Baptist – which swept a three-game series win over Southeastern Louisiana over the weekend.