BEAUMONT, Texas – Currently 8-0 on the season, the Lamar University baseball team can equal its best start in program history Tuesday when they step on the field to host Alcorn State in a midweek contest. Fresh off a week that saw LU go 5-0 with wins over No. 5 Texas A&M, Big 12 representative Kansas State, 2022 NCAA tournament representative New Mexico State and a sweep of the 2023 Sugar Land Classic, the Cardinals go in search of their first 9-0 start since 2009.
 
The 2009 squad opened the year with four wins over Austin Peay, two against Siena and won the first three games against Columbia before dropping the fourth and final game of that series. The 2009 squad went on to win 39 games and post a 20-13 mark in Southland Conference play.
 
To tie the school record, the Cardinals will have to go through an Alcorn State squad that has had a rough start to the season. The Braves are 1-6 (.143) to start 2023 with the lone win coming in the first game of a doubleheader against Roosevelt, an NAIA school located in Chicago, Ill.
 
One of just 12 teams still undefeated on the season, Lamar's game against Alcorn State will open a four-game homestand for the Red and White, and one that will see the Cardinals at home for seven of the next eight, with the lone road game being a trip to Baton Rouge to face No. 1 LSU.
 
Tuesday's game will mark the first-ever meeting between the two schools, but it won't be LU's only contest against a SWAC opponent this season. Lamar also has Texas Southern and Prairie View A&M on the docket later this year.
 
Tuesday's first pitch is set for 6 p.m. from Vincent-Beck Stadium, and will be streamed live on ESPN+. Following Tuesday's game, the Cardinals will turn around and welcome Pennsylvania to town. Penn makes their way to the Golden Triangle after getting their season started last week at nationally ranked South Carolina, where they gave the nationally ranked Gamecocks all they could handle. All three games were decided by three runs or less, with the final two being one-run games.