BEAUMONT, Texas – After winning all three games at the Sugar Land Classic over the weekend, Lamar University continues its season-opening eight-game road swing Tuesday when they travel to College Station, Texas to face No. 7 Texas A&M.
 
The Cardinals are returning to the site where they knocked off the Aggies last year, then ranked fifth nationally, during a season when Big Red opened the year winning nine-straight games.  While the Cardinals won't start 2024 with the same win streak, Lamar has posted the third-best non-conference win total of all SLC schools to this point.
 
LU now turns its attention to trying to snag back-to-back victories against the Aggies for the first time since the 1994 season, but those wins both came in Beaumont, and for just the third time ever. Lamar has never won consecutive games in College Station.
 
A powerhouse from the Southeastern Conference, Texas A&M enters the week with a 7-0 record. The Aggies opened the season by sweeping McNeese, before knocking off UIW in a midweek contest and swept Wagner in a three-game series this past weekend.
 
Tuesday's game – which was originally slated for a 4 p.m. first pitch – has been moved to a 6 p.m. start from Blue Bell Park and will see Jackson Cleveland take the mound for LU. A junior from Deer Park, Cleveland has made three appearances this season, and 25 during his two seasons with the Cardinals. Utilized primarily out of the bullpen, Cleveland has proven he can close and be stretched into starter's workload (he threw seven scoreless innings in an extra-inning relief appearance last season against Nicholls).
 
The Aggies will counter with Chris Cortez, a 6-1, junior righty who is making his second appearance of the season. Cortez, 1-0, pitched 5.2 in the victory over UIW allowing two unearned runs on five hits with eight strikeouts against the Southland's other Cardinals.
 
Tuesday's game will be streamed live on ESPN+ via the SEC Network.