BATON ROUGE, La. – Sophomore Kevin Bermudez, junior Kyle Harper and senior Matthew McDonald homered to give Lamar University a lead, and LU broke the game open with a seven-run sixth as it cruised to 15-5 victory (7 innings) at Southern Tuesday evening. The contest over Southern is the first of two meetings over a five-game stretch that will see the Jaguars pay a trip to Vincent-Beck Stadium Tuesday, May 10^th.
 
The Cardinals pounded out 15 runs on 10 hits Saturday, which included two doubles and three home runs. Southern scored five runs on eight hits with three errors. Seven different Cardinals collected hits Tuesday led by a 3-for-5 effort (with a home run and two RBIs) from Matthew McDonald and a 2-for-3 night with an RBI and two runs scored from Josh Blankenship.
 
John Altman got the win for the Cardinals allowing just one run on two hits in 3.0 innings. He was one of five pitchers to take the mound for LU Tuesday.
 
Southern jumped out to an early 1-0 lead, but the Cardinals responded immediately in the next half inning and never looked back. Big Red struck for two in their half of the third and after the pitching staff hung another zero on the board, Harper extended the lead even further with a two-run blast – his fifth of the year – to give LU a 5-1 lead.
 
Southern mounted a rally in their half of the fourth scoring two trimming the deficit in half but the Cards responded in a big way. The Cardinals answered with two in the fifth, and made it a six-run lead ollowing a Kevin Bermudez homer to take a 10-4 lead. Bermudez's homer – his fifth of the season – led to a seven-run inning allowing the Cardinals to break the game open. The Cardinal bullpen did the rest allowing just one more run as Big Red won in run rule fashion in seven innings.
 
 The Cardinals return to Western Athletic Conference play Friday when they open a three-game series against UT Rio Grande Valley. It will be the second series between the two schools this season with UT Rio Grande Valley snagging two of three in Edinburg earlier this season. First pitch for Friday's series opener will be at 6 p.m. from Vincent-Beck Stadium.
 
During Friday's contest, the Cardinals will be recognizing their 2022 WAC Champion tennis team, and prior to Saturday's game LU will be honoring three former Cardinals greats before the game – Kevin Millar, David Bernsen and Jim Gilligan.