BEAUMONT, Texas - Taking the series against Houston Christian in thrilling come from behind fashion, Lamar University's softball team will have five games this week as they look to put themselves in the hunt for a Southland Conference tournament berth. To start things off, LU will be hosting a non-conference doubleheader with Texas Southern to conclude their five-game homestand.

PREVIOUSLY, LU FOUND AN ACE
The Cardinals would win two of three against HCU this past weekend at home.  In both of their victories, Aaliyah Ruiz earned the wins pitching 14.0 innings with five strikeouts and a 2.00 ERA allowing four earned runs. In her last seven starts, Ruiz has allowed three or fewer runs for a 1.32 ERA.

SORRY HOUSTON, BUT BEAUMONT WAS CLUTCH CITY
In all three of their games against the Huskies, LU trailed in the last of the seventh inning, but found a way to tie or win the games with clutch rallies. In game one, a game-tying fielder's choice off the bat of Audry Fleming led to a walk-off single by Kaylee Ancelot for a 3-2 win.

Game two saw a sacrifice fly by Mikaila Kenney that scored Kalyn Xayaseng from second to tie the game at two before HCU won 6-2 in the ninth inning. Down 3-1 in the seventh in game three, LU got an RBI single by Hayley Freudenberg before Estela Garza singled in the winning two runs for a thrilling 4-3 walk-off victory.

STATS UPDATE
Bean continues to lead LU in batting average (.318), hits (41), and homers (six) while Kaylee Ancelot remains LU's RBI leader with 30 runs driven in. Aleka Xayaseng is nine-of-11 in stole base attempts. Aaliyah Ruiz is LU's leader in ERA (4.03) and strikeouts (61) while also having six wins.


SCHEDULE

Tuesday, Apr. 25

2:00 p.m. vs. Texas Southern (DH)


OPPONENT INFO: Texas Southern
Series Record: LU 8-4 (13th-14th Meeting)
Last Meeting: TSU 2-1 (5/3/22)

LU split their doubleheader last time against the Tigers last year. The Cardinals won the first game 1-0 with Hayley Freudenberg singling in Bean for the lone run of the game. Although Ruiz pitched well in game two, it isn't enough as LU fell 2-1.

The Tigers are 12-21 on the season. While Marissa Martinez might have the top batting .295, Daryn Haslam (.293) has a team-best 24 hits with five homers and 13 RBI. Lailah Bell has a team-low 4.45 ERA while Jazmine Gendorf (5.67 ERA) leads the pitching staff in wins (five), innings (66.2), and strikeouts (37).


UPDATED: The game has been changed to a single game starting at 4:00 p.m.
 

UP NEXT
The Cardinals are on the road this weekend for a series against UIW with a Friday doubleheader beginning at 5:00 p.m., while Saturday's finale starts at 1:00 p.m.

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