BEAUMONT, Texas — After a 10-run rout of Tulane on Tuesday on the road, Lamar University is seeking to keep the trend rolling as it hosts Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for a three-game series this weekend.

THE ISLANDERS AT A GLANCE

A&M-Corpus Christi enters the game 9-14 overall and 1-5 in Southland Conference play.

The Islanders are 2-5 in their last seven contests as they dropped two of three to Northwestern State before falling to Texas A&M, 17-7, in a run-ruled contest.

A&M-Corpus Christi then defeated Prairie View A&M, 8-2, on Wednesday.

Senior infielder Cade Sanchez leads the offense with 27 hits and a .338 average. Sanchez has tallied 10 multi-hit games while he also had a 21-game on base streak.

Austin Russell, a senior first baseman and outfielder, has brought in a team-high 18 RBIs while batting .303 with 20 hits and six doubles.

Senior infielder Trey Cruz leads the team with four home runs and a .580 slugging percentage. Cruz is riding a four-game hitting streak, going 5 for 14 (.357) during the span with a triple, home run and four RBIs.

The Islanders rank 11th in the conference with a .239 batting average. The offense also has 176 hits, 101 RBIs and 10 home runs this season.

A&M-Corpus Christi's pitching staff brings in a 7.01 ERA in 196.1 innings with 167 strikeouts.

Lefthander Zach Garcia is 2-2 with a 3.52 ERA, leading the staff with 23 strikeouts and 30.2 innings pitched.

Garcia went six innings allowing five hits while striking out four batters in his last appearance against Northwestern State last Friday.

Head coach Scott Malone is in his 18th season as head coach of the Islanders since taking over the helm in 2008.

Malone has amassed 430 career wins.

Since 2021, the Islanders have made four straight trips to the conference tournament.

A&M-Corpus Christi's last winning season was in 2019 when the program finished 31-26 overall.

HEAD-TO-HEAD

This will be the 70th meeting between both programs since the first meeting on April 4, 2001.

The Cardinals are 48-21 against the Islanders, 35-18 in conference play and 28-10 when at home.

From April 4, 2015-April 14, 2019, LU won 13-straight against A&M-Corpus Christi.

Despite that, the Islanders are 4-2 against the Cardinals in the last six meetings. A&M-Corpus Christi took two of three from LU in 2024.

MIDWEEK SUCCESS

LU is 8-0 in midweek contests with eight more remaining on the schedule.

Last season, the Cards went 8-3 in midweek games.

THE CARDS AT A GLANCE

Damian Ruiz has now reached base safely in 22 straight games.

Ruiz is tied for second in NCAA Division I in doubles with 13 alongside Florida's Colby Shelton, two behind the nation's leader, Kaleb Freeman of Georgia State.

Ruiz is also tied for 11th in the nation with 37 hits. He is also sixth in doubles per game (.59), tied for seventh in runs scored (33) and tied for 18th in runs per game (1.50).

In the conference, Ruiz ranks second in batting average (.416), eighth in slugging percentage (.708), tied for fifth in on base percentage (.495), sixth in on base + slugging percentage (1.203), first in runs scored, tied for first in hits, first in doubles, tied for fourth in at bats (89) and tied for first in triples (2).

Ruiz leads the Cards with 13 multi-hit games. He extended his hitting streak to five games as he went 2 for 4 with a double, an inside-the-park home run and three RBIs in the win over Tulane.

He has gone 10 for 23 (.435) during the stretch with three doubles, a triple, home run and six RBIs.

Heladio Moreno, currently on a seven-game hit streak, is third in the conference in batting average (.405) and fifth in hits (32).

Moreno is 12 for 28 (.429) during the seven games with two doubles and six runs scored.

Brayden Evans is on a 10-game hit streak, going 17 for 39 (.436) with four doubles, three home runs and 13 RBIs.

Evans has a team-high nine multi-RBI games. He is 10th in the conference in OPS (1.094), tied for sixth in hits (31), tied for fourth in RBIs (24), tied for fifth in doubles (7) and tied for eighth in walks (15).

Zane Spinn is 10 for 29 (.345) during his six-game hitting streak with two doubles, two home runs and 10 RBIs.

Spinn is ninth in the conference in hits (30) and tied for sixth in RBIs (23).

Tab Tracy is ranked ninth in the conference in batting average (.383) and tied for sixth in hits (31).

Matt Ryan is seventh in the conference in on base percentage (.490) while he's also tied for eighth in the hit by pitch category with six. Reese Beheler is tied for fifth in walks (16).

Overall, the Cardinals lead the nation in hits with 253. LU is above UTSA (252) in second and LSU (250) in third.

LU is tied for 23rd in the nation in walks (123) alongside Southeastern Louisiana and Tulane.

The Cardinals are also 25th in the nation in batting average (.320).

LU leads the SLC in hits and RBIs (168) while its second in batting average, fourth in doubles (46), fifth in slugging percentage (.456) and tied for second in walks.

The LU pitching staff leads the conference in strikeouts with 206.

In the win over Tulane, the staff had 14 strikeouts. The staff has recorded 10 or more strikeouts in 11 games. The season-high of 16 came against New Mexico State on March 12.

Riely Hunsaker is ninth in the conference in ERA (2.84), ninth in innings pitched (25.1) and tied for fifth in batters struck out looking (9).

Peyton Havard is tied for seventh in the conference in batters struck out (28).