HOUSTON, Texas – Although having to push the start of the Southland Conference season back a day, the Lamar University Cardinals got two strong pitching performances to extend their win streak to 12 games and move to 18-4 on the season and 2-0 in Southland Conference play. The Cardinals defeated Houston Christian, 8-1, in the first game of the day, and came right back to record a 6-4 victory in the second contest. 
 
Senior Brooks Caple (3-2) gave the Cardinals a strong outing going 7.0 innings allowing just one run on four hits, with no walks and three strike outs. Peyton Havard came on in the 8^th and pitched two perfect innings striking out two. 
 
The Cardinals scored their eight runs on nine hits and took advantage of two Husky errors. Both Kanin Dodge and Drake Varnado finished game one with two hits. Dodge went 2-for-4 with a double and five RBIs, while Varnado was 2-for-2 with an RBI.
 
Houston Christian's Nicholas Willard (2-2) took the loss after 3.2 innings of work where he allowed four runs – one earned – on two hits with five walks and two strike outs. Willard was one of four Huskies to pitch in the opening game. 
 
After plating a run in the third, the Cardinals broke the game open with three in the fourth without the benefit of a hit. River Orsak reached on a one-out error by the third baseman and then the plate began to jump around on HCU's pitching staff. The Cardinals drew three consecutive walks, including five of the next six batters, with Jack Schell, Drake Varnado and Kanin Dodge each recording RBIs.
 
The Huskies got on the scoreboard with a run in the sixth, but the Cardinals put the game away with four runs on five hits in the top half of the eighth inning. After LU loaded the bases with one out in the inning, Dodge double to left center clearing the bases. Moments later, Dodge stole third and was singled home by Austin Roccaforte.
 
The second game followed a similar pattern – score early, strong pitching performance, extend the lead late and get a shutdown performance s from the bullpen. 
 
Senior Jacob Ellis (4-0) went 5.2 surrendering just two runs on three hits with a three strike outs and three walks. He was one of four Cardinals to take the mound as Andres Perez pitched a scoreless eighth and ninth inning to pick up his fourth save of the season.
 
Lamar finished the second game with six runs on 10 hits with two errors. HCU scored its four runs on seven hits with an error. 
 
Varnado had another strong performance in game two going 3-for-4 for with two RBIs while River Orsak was 2-for-4 with three batted in.
 
HCU's Parker Edwards suffered the loss after going 3.2 innings allowing four earned runs on five hits with two walks. He also struck out three batters. 
 
The Cardinals plated solo runs in the first and second innings to take a 2-0 lead. Big Red doubled its lead in the fourth when they scored two runs on two hits. With runners on first and second and two outs in the inning, Varnado singled to right scoring one. Moments later Schell came across on a wild pitch. The Huskies would battle back with two runs in their half of the inning. 
 
In the seventh, Lamar took advantage of an HCU error to extend its lead to 5-2. That lead would only last until the bottom half of the eighth when the Huskies pushed across two more. 
 
Leading by just a run headed into the top of the ninth, the Cards got a one-out triple off the bat of Brayden Evans who would come around to score on a sacrifice fly from Orsak. The insurance run was more than enough for the LU bullpen who kept the Huskies off the board in the ninth. 
 
The two teams return to action Sunday to close out the series with a 2 p.m. contest from Husky Field. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+.