BEAUMONT, Texas - Sending baseballs over the outfield wall on three separate occasions, Lamar University (12-23, 4-13 SLC) used dominant pitching from Jason Blanchard and big hits to win 7-3 over Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (24-14, 10-7 SLC) on Saturday. The Cards have outscored the Islanders 16-4 through the first two games of the series.

"Starting pitching has really been the difference in these last two games," said head coach Will Davis. "Our offense has been pretty good as of late and in these two games Jason Blanchard and Noah Sills have got us off to a great start. When you have a pitching staff that has been depleted by injuries as much as ours has, getting unbelievable starting pitching and only have to use an inning and a third of the bullpen through two games so far has been huge. I like that we have solid hitting throughout the lineup now, and if we continue to get great starting pitching I hope that'll get us some more wins down the line."

Blanchard tied a career high with eight strikeouts on Saturday, matching a personal record he had previously set against BYU on March 1. The senior from Kingwood, Texas, allowed seven hits and two runs (one earned) while walking two. He through 109 pitches in seven and two-thirds innings of work and faced the minimum in the fourth inning. The Islanders didn't score at all until the eighth, putting two across on two hits and a wild pitch. Another run scored in the ninth off a double, a 5-3 grounder, and an RBI single.

Lamar's biggest inning came in the bottom of the third. Hitless through the first two innings, Rhett McCall broke open the game with a single to left field on the seventh pitch of his lead-off at-bat. A single from Avery George in the next at-bat put McCall on second and a walk of Cole Girouard loaded the bases with no outs. Cole Coker stepped up to the plate and took one pitch before knocking the laces off the next pitch he saw, a grand slam to center field that traveled 384 feet. JC Correa singled in the next at-bat but was struck down in a double play. Logan Berlof also singled but was stranded on a liner to third. Lamar led 4-0 through three innings.

A lead-off homer from Anthony Quirion in the bottom of the fourth scored another run for Lamar, and then Correa and Robin Adames hit consecutibe doubles in the fifth to push a sixth run home. The final run of the day came in the bottom of the sixth on a solo moon shot from Correa over the left field wall with two outs. Lamar led 7-0 through six innings and held A&M-Corpus Christi at arms-length the rest of the game, winning 7-3.

George, Coker, Correa (3x), Adames, Berlof, Reese Durand, Quirion (2x), and McCall (2x) had Lamar's 12 hits. Girouard had two walks and Coker and McCall each had one walk.

The Cardinals will go for the sweep on Sunday with Grason Wright on the mound. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.

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