BEAUMONT, Texas – Winners in six of the last eight games, the Lamar University baseball team (25-21/17-19 SLC) enters the Southland Conference Championships as one of the hottest teams in the league. The No. 8 overall seed, the Cardinals have qualified for their first conference tournament since the 2017 season. Big Red's opening-round opponent – No. 1 Abilene Christian (34-19/25-13 SLC) – also got on a hot streak late in the season winning 15 of their final 17 games to win the regular-season title, but one of their losses came on the final day of the regular season at Stephen F. Austin.
 
The Cardinals and ACU are slated to be the second game of the day Wednesday with a noon first pitch. If the Cardinals get past ACU, they will face the winner of the No. 4 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi vs. No. 5 Sam Houston game Thursday at 4 p.m. If the Cardinals should fall in the opening game they would take on the Islanders/Bearkats loser Thursday at 9 a.m. All tournament games will be televised on ESPN+, and will be played at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field in Hammond, La. Should the Cardinals advance to the championship game, it will also be broadcast live on Newstalk 560 KLVI.
 
The Bracket
The remainder of the 2021 Southland Championship bracket consist of second-seeded New Orleans against No. 7 McNeese, and No. 3 seed Southeastern Louisiana against Northwestern State. Oddly, the way the bracket shapes up it looks more like a matchup of Texas vs. Louisiana. Of the eight teams who qualified for the conference tournament, the four from Louisiana are on one side of the bracket with the four from Texas on the other.
 
LU vs. the Field
The Cardinals are 7-13 (.350) against the other seven teams in Southland Conference Championships and have not faced two of the teams in the tournament – McNeese and Sam Houston. The Cardinals picked up three wins over UNO, two against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and two against Northwestern State. Battle of the Border rival McNeese wasn't on the 2021 slate and the series at Sam Houston was canceled due to positive COVID tests and subsequent contact tracing within the SHSU program.
 
Last Time Here
Big Red is making its first appearance in the Southland Conference Championships since the 2017 season. That year LU also entered the tournament as the No. 8 overall seed. It was a short trip to the tournament that season as LU dropped consecutive games to McNeese and Houston Baptist.
 
LU in the Southland Championships
The Cardinals are making their 18th appearance in the Southland Conference Championships, and their first since the 2017 season. Big Red 33-26 (.559) all-time in the SLC tournament with a +7-run differential. The Cardinals enter the 2021 postseason looking to end a seven-game slide at the conference championships. LU is looking for its first tournament win since 12-2 victory over Southeastern Louisiana in 2013. The Cardinals head to Hammond in search of their fourth Southland tournament title, and their sixth overall conference tournament title.