BRYAN / COLLEGE STATION, Texas - After a tremendous 2020 season, two of Lamar University baseball's student-athletes will compete Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in the 2020 Collegiate Summer Baseball Invitational. Jack Dallas and Chase Kemp are two of just nine current or former Southland Conference representatives that were invited to compete in the three-day tournament, and both Cardinals will play for CSBI Liberty.

Kemp has been a standout in summer wooden bat competition, earning the 2019 Texas Collegiate League MVP honors after leading the Brazos Bombers to a 2019 TCL Championship and hitting .338 with 11 doubles, four home runs, 29 RBIs, and an OPS of .935. He took a big step forward in his Cardinal career in 2020 as well as one of just five Big Red bats to start all 17 games before COVID-19 cut short the campaign. He hit .222 for Lamar University with a .389 SLUG and a .417 OBP, and Kemp finished second on the team in runs scored (10), tied for second in doubles (three), fifth in total bases (21), third in slugging percentage (.389), first in walks (13), first in on-base percentage (.417), fifth in RBIs (seven), second in home runs (two), first in hits-by-pitch (five), first in double plays turned (10), and fourth in total plate appearances (72).

Dallas made his 50th career pitching appearance for the Cardinals in the final of his seven relief stints in 2020, and holds a career 4.96 ERA through 89.0 innings of work. The junior from Orange, Texas, worked a 3.12 ERA through 8.2 innings this season, striking out 11 while allowing four hits, six walks, and just three runs. He was the only Cardinal pitcher to record a save in 2020, and ranked fourth on the team in strikeouts, tied for fourth in total appearances, tied for third in games in relief, and led the team in games finished with five while holding opposing batters to a measly .148 batting average. He was a 2019 D1Baseball Player to Watch, and holds a career 1.71 strikeouts-to-walks ratio. Dallas was also a proven winner in his high school career, earning the Willie Ray Smith Award following his junior season. He guided West Orange Stark High School to three consecutive state championship appearances, including a state title as a junior and senior, and was named MVP of the 2015 and 2016 state championship games. He also led the Mustangs to a state title in baseball.

ESPN2 will broadcast Thursday's games with Dallas and Kemp facing CSBI Unity at 6 p.m. Central. The loser of Thursday's game will face the loser of the CSBI Freedom-CSBI Independence matcup in a double elimination game at 5 p.m. Friday, and the winner of the Unity-Liberty matchup will face the winner of the Freedom-Independence matchup at 8 p.m. Friday. The full bracket can be found below.
 

All games following Thursday's ESPN2 broadcast will be available via pay-per-view subscription on CSBI2020.com, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting No Kid Hungry.