BEAUMONT, Texas – Lamar University softball will look to get back on track with a familiar opponent coming to town as they square off with former conference foe Stephen F. Austin in a midweek matchup on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at the LU Softball Complex.
 
LAST TIME OUT
LU took two of three in their home series against Penn over the weekend. Wardlaw had her best start as a Cardinal with a three-hit shutout in a 1-0 Game 1 win while multi-RBI games from Cameron Niedenthal, Shenita Tucker and Makenzie Wright led to a 7-2 victory in Game 2. The series finale saw the Quakers bounce back and hand the Cardinals a 7-5 defeat.
 
KEY STORYLINES
Prior to Sunday's loss, the Cardinals had won eight straight games, their longest win streak since 2016. LU is off to its best start since the program was resurrected in 2013 and hopes to keep building momentum before their conference opener this weekend.
 
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Trinity Brandon has been on a tear as of late and is currently riding an eight-game hit streak. She has racked up three doubles, two triples and seven RBI in that time as well. Jayne Sepulveda is also hitting well at the moment with hits in five of the last six games including a 3-for-3 effort in Game 1 of Saturday's doubleheader with Penn which saw her score the game's only run.
 
Wardlaw has continued her stellar freshman campaign on the mound as she has only allowed three hits in her last 28 innings pitched. Saturday saw her pitch an absolute gem in a scoreless complete game victory where she allowed just three hits with five strikeouts. She then added 5.1 innings of one-run relief in Sunday's loss allowing five hits with five more strikeouts.
 
OPPONENT INFO: Stephen F. Austin
Time: Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.
Series Record: 21-9 SFA
Last Meeting: 6-4 SFA (2/21/23)
 
The Cardinals run into former SLC and WAC bunkmate SFA on Tuesday who enters with a season record of 5-15 under first-year head coach Jeff Jackson. Runs have been at a premium for the Lumberjacks as they have only managed to score four runs in their last seven games. On the flipside, however, they have only allowed more than three runs once in their last eight games.
 
Pitchers Aydenne Brown and Brooke Gainous have stood out on the mound with ERAs of 2.53 and 2.63, respectively, despite their overall records. On offense, Madison Nguyen leads the team in batting average (.308) and RBI (10) while Kelby Robbins has reached base in five consecutive games.