BEAUMONT, Texas — Riding a four-game winning streak and coming off the first conference sweep of the season, the Lamar University Cardinals switch gears Tuesday by hosting Rice University for a midweek contest.
This is the second time both programs meet this season as the Cardinals won the first meeting back on March 4 in Houston.
LU will then resume Southland Conference play by traveling to San Antonio for a three-game series against Incarnate Word this weekend.
OWLS AT A GLANCE
The Owls have a new head coach as David Pierce took over the program a week ago.
Pierce, a former assistant coach at Rice from 2003-2011, enters his 14th year as a head coach.
He spent eight seasons at Texas going 297-162. Pierce also had a two-year stint with Tulane and a three-year stint at Sam Houston State.
Pierce replaces Jose Cruz Jr., who was fired after beginning his fourth season with a 2-14 record.
Rice recently dropped a series to Florida Atlantic two games to three on the road this past weekend, bringing its record to 5-19 overall.
The Owls are 2-5 against Southland Conference opponents with other losses suffered to Houston Christian, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Incarnate Word.
Freshman Blaine Brown leads the offense with a .325 average, 27 hits, eight doubles and 13 RBIs.
He's riding a five-game hitting streak, going 8 for 21 (.381) in that span with a double, home run and three RBIs.
Freshman Hiram Bocahica Jr. is second on the team with a .314 batting average and 22 hits.
The offense is batting a collective .252 with 200 hits, 15 home runs and 83 RBIs.
Pitcher and graduate student Tucker Alch is sporting a team-best 2-0 record with a 3.45 ERA in 28.2 innings pitched.
Junior Davion Hickson leads the staff with 35 strikeouts in five appearances.
The staff has a 6.75 ERA with 190 strikeouts in 204 innings pitched.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
This is the 140th meeting between Rice and LU since the series started on Feb. 1, 1952.
The Cardinals are 52-87 all-time against the Owls.
Rice comes to Beaumont for the 61st time. The Cardinals haven't defeated the Owls at Vincent-Beck Stadium since March 7, 2017.
MIDWEEK SUCCESS
LU is 8-0 in midweek contests this season.
Breakdown by conference:
- 3-0 vs. Conference USA
- 2-0 vs. American Athletic Conference
- 2-0 vs. The Summit League
- 1-0 vs. Horizon League
CARDS AT A GLANCE
Damian Ruiz has reached base safely in 25 games while he also sports an eight-game hitting streak.
Dating back to 2010, the 25-game on base streak is the sixth-longest in program history. Ruiz joins Aaron Buchanan who reached base safely in as many games back in 2011.
Ruiz is tied for second in NCAA Division I in doubles with 13, four behind the nation's leader, Georgia State's Kaleb Freeman.
Ruiz is also tied for 10th in the nation with 42 hits and tied for fourth in runs scored (38).
In the Southland Conference, Ruiz is second in batting average (.424), sixth in slugging percentage (.687), tied for fifth in on base percentage (.513), fourth in on base + slugging percentage (1.200), first in runs scored, tied for second in hits, first in doubles, tied for second in triples (2), tied for sixth in at bats (99) and tied for sixth in walks (18).
Ruiz leads the team with 14 multi-hit games.
The Cardinals are tied for second in the nation with 281 hits alongside Georgia, just one behind the nation's leader, UTSA.
Brayden Evans is on a 13-game hitting streak, the second-longest of the season behind the 15-game hit streak by Ruiz.
Evans is tied for sixth in the SLC in hits (35), tied for fifth in RBIs (27), tied for fourth in doubles (8) and tied for sixth in at bats (99).
Evans has 16 RBIs during the 13-game span as he has gone 21 for 51 (.412) with five doubles and two home runs.
Evans leads the offense with 10 multi-RBI games.
Tab Tracy is 6 for 14 (.429) in his last four games with two doubles and seven RBIs. He ranks fifth in the conference in batting average (.396), tied for fourth in hits (36) and 10th in RBIs (24).
Heladio Moreno is seventh in the SLC in batting average (.389) and tied for sixth in hits (35).
Moreno has gone 15 for 39 (.385) in his last 10 games.
Zane Spinn has 14 RBIs in his last nine games. He is tied for ninth in the conference in hits (33), tied for sixth in RBIs (27) and tied for ninth in at bats (97).
The Cardinals lead the conference with a .318 batting average and 281 hits.
LU's pitching staff leads the conference with 227 strikeouts.
Riely Hunsaker has the seventh-best ERA in the conference (2.30) while
Chris Olivier is sixth in opponent batting average (.213).
Hunsaker is also tied for sixth in the conference in batters struck out looking (9) while
Peyton Havard is tied for fifth in batters struck out (32).
Austin Neal is tied for seventh in saves (2) in the SLC.
The LU pitching staff has tallied 11 games with 10 or more strikeouts. The highest single-game strikeout total this season is 16 against New Mexico State back on March 12.
