BEAUMONT, Texas - With a dominant offensive showing to carry him, freshman pitcher Josh Hranicky wowed in his first collegiate start on Wednesday as Lamar University (10-19) took down Houston Baptist University (8-20) in seven innings. The Cardinals outscored the Huskies 11-1 in a previously-agreed-upon run-rule game.

"I thought we played spectacularly in all aspects," said head coach Will Davis. "We had 16 hits and 11 runs, good base running, awesome defense and great pitching. Josh really set the tone for us tonight. We didn't have a lot of guys available to pitch tonight so we needed him to step up and he really did."

Hranicky had a special outing in his first collegiate start with a four-inning no-hitter. He struck out one while walking three and hitting one batter. His most impressive out was his last one when he chased down a soft hit ball that was squirreling down the third base line. Hranicky swiped the ball and threw what looked like a mid-90s fastball to first to beat the runner and strand a Husky at third, also saving his shutout. Marcus Olivarez and Luke Baley combined for the final three innings of the game and surrendered just one run on four hits, no walks, and no strikeouts. The Cardinal pitchers used just 71 total pitches through 28 batters faced.

Lamar got the hit parade started early with two runs in the first inning. Avery George led off with a single to stretch his hit streak to six games. Cole Giroaurd sac bunted him over to second and a single from Cole Coker scored George. Coker then stole second during JC Correa's at-bat and stole third during Reese Durand's at-bat. Durand joined Coker on base after he was walked, and Logan Berlof earned his ninth RBI of the year on a single through the left. Lamar led 2-0 through the first inning.

The Cardinals got two hits in the bottom of the second when George and Coker singled, but those Cards were stranded on the corners on a deep fly ball to center field. The offense would go back to work in the third and score two more runs. Durand led off with a single to center and advanced to second on a 5-3 grounder. A two-out single from Rhett McCall scored Durand and a triple from Kirkland Banks scored McCall. Lamar led 4-0 through three innings.

Coker doubled with one out in the bottom of the fourth inning and attempted to stretch that into a triple with one out. The junior from Huffman, Texas, was thrown out by just inches. A 5-3 grounder ended the fourth with Lamar still up 4-0.

The first Husky hit came in the top of the fifth but Olivarez used a 5-3 grounder, a 1-3 grounder, and a 3-1 grounder to keep that run off the board. The Cardinal bats rewarded his fielding efforts in the bottom of the inning for two more runs. Berlof singled with one out and reached second on an error, then Quirion pushed him to third on a double in the next at-bat. A one-out single from McCall scored both Cardinal runners before a strikeout and fielder's choice ended the inning. Lamar led 6-0 through five innings.

Three hits in the sixth innings scored HBU's lone run of the game. A lead-off double reached third on a wild pitch and scored on a single up the middle that careened off second base. A two-out hit put runners on the corners before a lazy fly to left ended the inning. Girouard singled in the bottom of the inning but was stranded on first, and Lamar led 6-1 through six.

Lamar faced the minimum in the top of the seventh thanks to a stellar 6-4-3 double play, and the Cardinal bats really broke through in the bottom of the inning. Berlof led off with a single to left on the ninth pitch of his at-bat. McCall put Berlof on third with a double to right center and a walk of Banks loaded the bases. Girouard and Coker were walked to score two for Lamar, and a two-out double from JC Correa scored the final two runs of the game, forcing the run rule. Lamar won 11-1.

The Cardinals are back in action on Friday on a Southland Conference road trip. LU will play three games at SLC leader Sam Houston State starting at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. A mid-week game at UTSA will conclude the four-game road trip on April 9, and the Cards will host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for a three-game SLC series April 12-14 for the final home games of the month. The Cards won't play in the friendly confines of Vincent-Beck Stadium again until May 3 with the final nine games of April on the road.

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