BEAUMONT, Texas - Coming off the heels of a walk-off win, Lamar University (8-12, 1-5 SLC) aims to keep the good times rolling when the Cardinals travel east for another Southland Conference road trip. Big Red will face Northwestern State (10-8, 3-3 SLC) in Natchitoches, La., for a three-game series that starts Friday at 6:30 p.m.
THE LAST TIME OUT - SOUTHERN (MARCH 19)
In a weird and wonderful mid-week game, Lamar University edged out Southern University on a
6-5 walk-off win Tuesday. The Cardinals struck out 13 batters and walked none but the Jaguars managed to pounce ahead with a 5-0 lead before Big Red battled back with six straight runs.
UP NEXT - NORTHWESTERN STATE UNIVERSITY
Starters:
Friday: LHP
Noah Sills (0-3, 3.54 ERA) vs. LHP
Ridge Heisler (2-1, 1.56 ERA)
Saturday: LHP
Jason Blanchard (2-2, 1.76 ERA) vs. RHP
Jerry Maddox (0-1, 6.98 ERA)
Sunday: RHP
Douglas Palmer (1-0, 2.40 ERA) vs. RHP
Nathan Jones (2-1, 1.64 ERA)
Series Record
All-Time Series: Lamar 63-52
In Southland Conference Play: Northwestern State leads 32-19
At Vincent-Beck Stadium: Lamar leads 33-27
At CC Stroud Field: Lamar leads 27-24
At Neutral Site: Lamar leads 3-1
Last 10 Years: Northwestern State leads 15-13
Will Davis vs. Northwestern State: 2-3
Bobby Barbier vs. Lamar: 3-2
Last Meeting: April 17, 2018 (Lamar wins 3-2 at Northwestern State)
The defending tournament champions of the Southland Conference, Northwestern State is 10-8 this season with a 3-3 record against Southland competition. The Demons have wins over Houston, Louisiana-Monroe, UALR, Louisiana Tech, #11 LSU, and a series win over New Orleans but also dropped two of three at Abilene Christian and at Houston, lost to Southern in the second game of a doubleheader, and most recently lost at Louisiana-Lafayette.
Bobby Barbier is in his third season at his alma mater with a 68-66 overall record that includes a 31-35 mark in SLC play.
NSU is second in the conference in earned run average this season with an impressive 3.72, and their 2.57 strikeout-to-walk ratio is third in the league. That ERA has risen significantly in conference play though with a 4.33 ERA against SLC opponents, which ranks seventh in the league. The Demon bats are eighth in the league in the regular season with a .252 batting average (sixth in SLC play - .252), and the offense averages 6.1 runs a game, sixth in the Southland.
Caleb Ricca leads the team and is 10th in the SLC in batting average with a .353 mark, and he is atop the league leaderboard in doubles with nine this season. Ricca is slugging .618 in 2019, fourth-best in the SLC, and his eight stolen bases is third-most in the SLC. His numbers against SLC competition are even more impressive - he is tied for fourth in batting average with a .450 clip and his 1.050 SLUG leads the league. He's scored 10 runs just in SLC action and his .607 OBP is third-best among SLC batters. Joining Ricca in the .300 BA club are
Hayden Brown,
Jeffrey Elkins, and
Larson Fontenot, and
Sam Taylor is second on the team in hits with 19 this year.
Northwestern State's starters are
Ridge Heisler,
Jerry Maddox, and
Nathan Jones. Heisler leads his team in ERA with a 1.56 through 34.2 innings of work. He's struck out 30 while walking just seven, and he's got a .169 opposing batting average. Jones trails Heisler by just a couple of percentage points in ERA with a 1.64 mark through 22.0 innings. Jones has 26 strikeouts to six walks and a .218 opposing batting average. Maddox maintains a 6.98 ERA with 28 strikeouts, 10 walks, and a .304 opposing batting average.
Tyler Pigott (2-1, 4.82 ERA, one save) and
Kyle Swanson (0-0, 2.70 ERA) have seen the most work out of the bullpen.
Lamar Quick Hits
- Cole Girouard, fresh off a 4-of-9 performance at McNeese this weekend, apparently loves to play against teams from Louisiana. He has a career .353 batting average against Louisiana teams with 25 hits, including five doubles and a homer. One of his best games came at Southern in 2018 with a 5-of-7 day with four runs scored and three RBIs.
- Avery George continues to get hits and get on base. The sophomore from Humble, Texas, now has a 30-game reached-base streak going, just two games away from tying the record set by Stijn van der Meer in 2016. His 19-game hit streak is currently tied for the fifth-longest hit streak in program history with Jordan Foster (2003) and Jerald Clark (1985). Fourth place belongs to Chad Bunting (23-game hit streak).
- Robin Adames needs just 40 hits to capture the Lamar career hits record. He has 46 games (including this weekend) to get there.
