BEAUMONT, Texas – Just three games remain in the 2018 Lamar University baseball season, and those games should be a special treat for Cardinal fans with all three coming at home against Southland Conference archrival McNeese State University.
 
The Cards (16-36, 10-17 SLC) and Cowboys (25-28, 15-12 SLC) will begin their three-game series Thursday with each game featuring a special event for Big Red fans. Thursday's game will have $2 general admission tickets for fans wearing red and post-game autographs, Friday's game will be a Faith & Family Night with post-game fireworks and a Mobiloil Credit Union baseball hat giveaway, and Saturday will be a celebration of Lamar's seven seniors with several LU-branded giveaways and Season Ticket Holder Appreciation Day. All three games this weekend will also feature $1 hotdogs.
 
The Last Time Out – at SFA
 
Senior pitcher Tanner Driskill pitched his second career complete game Friday in the first of three games against SFA, and though the Cards brought the winning run to the plate in the top of the ninth, the Lumberjacks escaped the opener with a 5-3 victory over Big Red. Robin Adames had three hits on the day.
 
Tied at three runs apiece through eight innings, five consecutive walks scored three runs for Lamar in the top of the ninth to help the Cards take a 7-3 decision over SFA on Saturday. Noah Sills went seven innings with one strikeout and two earned runs, and freshmen duo Logan LeJeune and Chase Kemp each had three hits.
 
Tied 1-1 through seven innings, it appeared Lamar had broken through in the top of the eighth when the Cards took a 2-1 lead on a walk of Ingram, a single from Adames, a sac bunt from Coker, and a wild pitch. Unfortunately, a tricky strike zone spelled trouble for Lamar in the bottom of the eighth as four consecutive walks and a sac fly scored three runs for SFA. The Lumberjacks won 4-2 and took the series 2-1.
 
Lamar vs. McNeese
 
Series Record
All-Time Series: Lamar leads 118-80-2
At Vincent-Beck: Lamar leads 60-45
At Joe Miller Ballpark: Lamar leads 53-35-2
At Neutral Site: Lamar leads 5-3
Will Davis vs. McNeese: McNeese leads 2-1
Justin Hill vs. Lamar: McNeese leads 9-4
Lamar vs. McNeese Last 10 Seasons: McNeese leads 21-18
 
Starters:
Friday – RHP Tanner Driskill (5-5, 3.87 ERA) vs. RHP Grant Anderson (4-5, 3.25 ERA)
Saturday – LHP Noah Sills (3-5, 3.18 ERA) vs. RHP Cayne Ueckert (4-2, 4.31 ERA)
Sunday – LHP Jason Blanchard (0-6, 3.69 ERA) vs. TBA
 
In its fifth season under 2017 SLC Coach of the Year Justin Hill (155-126, 87-60 SLC), McNeese's baseball team is 25-28 this season and 15-12 in Southland play. The Cowboys are currently fifth in the SLC standings but could move up as high as third or drop as low as eighth depending on this weekend's results.
 
McNeese has struggled a bit offensively this year with the 10th-ranked batting average in the league (.265) and a scoring average of 5.4 runs a game, 11th in the conference. Their pitching staff has been dealing strikes left and right with an average of 8.5 per nine innings, the second-most in the SLC, but when hitters do make contact it's been damaging with a 5.29 ERA, the third-highest ERA in the conference.
 
Joe Provenzano has been an integral part of McNeese's success the past four seasons with 248 hits in his career, a program record. The senior ranks 10th in the league this season with a .340 average and seventh in doubles with 15 in 2018. Jacob Stracner has worn 13 pitches this year, the eighth-most league-wide, and he and Provenzano both are two of six Cowboys with 50 hits this season.
 
The Anderson twins, Aidan and Grant, are the most formidable pitchers on the Cowboy staff with ERAs of 3.07 and 3.25, respectively. Aidan has 67 strikeouts so far to 27 walks and Grant has 62 punch outs to 34 walks.