BEAUMONT, Texas – The sight of Vincent-Beck Stadium must be a breath of fresh air for the road-weary Lamar University Cardinals who will open a three-game homestand Friday against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The homestand comes following a nine-game road swing that saw conference stops at Northwestern State and UIW and midweek games at UT Arlington, Rice and TCU.
 
While Big Red won just three games on the swing, they ended trip on a high note recording consecutive wins over Southland leaders, UIW, followed by Tuesday's victory at TCU.
 
The Cardinals (20-16/5-7 SLC) now turn their attention to Islanders and beginning the process of trying to climb back up the standings' ladder. Lamar is currently eighth in conference standings, just a game and a half back of A&M-Corpus Christi and a game up on Southeastern Louisiana.
 
The Southland standings have been a log jam all season with no team declaring itself as the clear favorite. UIW has a game and half lead over three teams tied for second, but the entire league is separated by just 4.0 games, with plenty of baseball remaining.
 
The good news for the Cardinals is they have already played three of the current top four teams in the standings. The flip side of that coin is, after this weekend's series, the Cardinals only have one more remaining home series in conference play – vs. Houston Christian (May 18-20).
 
The three-game series against the Islanders will be a fun game within the game, as it pits the Southland Conference's top hitting team (Islanders - .297 batting average) against the league's top pitching team (LU – 4.12 era).
 
The Islanders make their way to the Golden Triangle posting a .297 batting average with 18 home runs, 64 doubles and 202 RBIs. As a team, A&M-Corpus Christi is 44-of-66 (.667) in stolen base attempts.
 
The Islanders' pitching staff brings a 6.47 earned run average into the contest in 313 innings pitched. The Islanders have struck out 276 batters but have walked 225.
 
Big Red is hitting .250 on the season with 27 home runs, 67 doubles and 175 RBIs. The Cardinals are 47-of-60 (.783) in stolen base attempts.
 
From a pitching standpoint, the Cardinals are holding opponents to a .246 batting average in 321 innings of work. Big Red has struck out 303 batters (second best in the league) on the season to just 129 walks (second best in the league).
 
All three games of the series will be streamed live on ESPN+, with Friday's first pitch slated for a 6 p.m. start. Saturday's first pitch is set for 2 p.m. with Sunday's slated for a 1 p.m. start.