BEAUMONT, Texas - Taking its Southland Conference-leading undefeated record on the road, Lamar University's baseball team (3-0) will travel to New Orleans on Tuesday for two games against the Green Wave of Tulane University (3-0). This marks the second consecutive season the Cards and Green Wave have played after not playing each other for 23 years.

THE LAST TIME OUT - LIU BROOKLYN - FEB. 15 & 16
Two three-run homers and a gem of pitching performance from Jason Blanchard and Jack Dallasproved the difference Friday night in Lamar's 6-2 win over LIU Brooklyn. The Cards took a 3-0 lead in the second and never looked back as nearly 1,000 Cardinal fans cheered LU to victory. Blanchard sat down the first 10 batters he faced, collecting four strikeouts along the way that included striking out the side in the second inning.

Expected inclement weather on Sunday forced a doubleheader on Saturday. Lamar captured both games on Saturday, taking the first game 2-1 and the second 8-4. The Cardinals improve to 3-0 on the season and drop LIU, a 2018 NCAA Regional team, to 0-3 on the year. Similar to Jason Blanchard's spectacular start on Friday, Noah Sills and Grason Wright were stupendous in their starting roles on Saturday. The doubleheader duo combined for 10.2 innings of work with just eight hits, three earned runs, and five walks allowed while striking out six batters. Sills pitched a shutout until the sixth inning and Wright allowed just one hit through his first four innings.

The relief pitching was also astounding Saturday with incredible team efforts from Austin Smith for the win and Ryan Erickson for the save in the first game of the day, Erik Key pitching through the sixth inning of the finale and Douglas Palmer shutting down the Blackbird bats in the final three innings; the redshirt junior sat down eight consecutive Blackbirds and struck out five. Jack Dallas (Friday), Erickson (Game 1 on Saturday), and Palmer (Game 2 on Saturday) each earned a save.

Lamar vs. Tulane

Series Record
All-Time Series: Tulane leads 10-6
At Vincent-Beck Stadium: Tulane leads 1-0
At Greer Field at Turchin Stadium: Tulane leads 8-5
At Neutral Site: Tied 1-1
Will Davis vs. Tulane: 0-2
Travis Jewett vs. Lamar: 2-0
Last Meeting: February 28, 2018 (Tulane wins 6-2)

Starters:
Tuesday - LHP Taylor Rich vs. RHP Josh Bates
Wednesday - LHP Dylan Johnson vs. LHP Brendan Cellucci

Picked to finish sixth in the American Athletic Conference this year, Tulane is in its third season under Travis Jewett and once again off to a hot start at home with a season-opening sweep of George Washington at home, marking a two-season streak that the Green Wave have swept their opening series to start the season. Despite outscoring George Washington 26-14 in three games, Tulane needed walk-off wins in each of its first two games to secure the series, playing into the 13th inning in Saturday's matchup.

Tulane ranks third in the AAC in team batting average (.292), second in slugging percentage (.478), second in on-base percentage (.427), first in runs scored (26), third in total hits (33), second in RBIs (23), and first in walks drawn (18) while striking out just 22 times (trailing just ECU and Memphis for fewest strikeouts). The Green Wave pitching staff is slightly less stellar with a 4.06 ERA (fifth in the AAC), a .224 opposing batting average (5th), and 25 strikeouts (tied 5th). Tulane has surrendered the third-most earned runs in the conference so far this season and has walked more batters (19) than almost any team in the league.

Kody Hoese, a junior, played a large role in Tulane's offensive output last weekend. He had six hits including back-to-back walk-off wins, leading the Green Wave with a .429 batting average, four RBIs, four runs scored and a .714 slugging percentage. Hoese was 3-for-5 with a home run and three RBIs in a 13-inning walk-off win Saturday. He scored three runs and had two hits, including an RBI double in a 16-6 win on Sunday. David Bedgood, Trevor Jensen, and Grant Mathews all enter this week's series averaging .333 at the plate.

Tuesday's starter is RHP Josh Bates, a familiar face for Lamar. He started 10 games as a freshman last season including his first collegiate start on Feb. 27 (against Lamar). He finished the year with a 5.24 ERA and a 2-2 record in 46.1 innings of work.

Brendan Cellucci, another sophomore, appeared in just seven games in 2018, striking out three batters in 2.2 innings of work. He pitched one inning of scoreless work against George Washington this week, striking out one and walking one in the 7-6, 13-inning game.