BEAUMONT, Texas — Riding a five-game winning streak, the Lamar University Cardinals travel to San Antonio this weekend for a three-game series against the University of the Incarnate Word.
LU is currently tied with New Orleans for fifth place in the Southland Conference with a 6-6 league record.
UIW AT A GLANCE
UIW's midweek contest against Texas State on Wednesday was cut short due to the inclement weather.
Texas State held a 6-2 lead after scoring all six runs in the bottom of the second.
UIW is 4-2 in its last six contests, notching wins over Rice, Southern University, Nicholls and Prairie View A&M.
Sitting in last place of the SLC, UIW brings in a 13-14 overall record while its 1-11 in league play.
Senior outfielder Daniel Calabrese ranks 10th in NCAA Division I with 43 hits while he also has a .371 average with seven doubles, three home runs and 25 RBIs.
Calabrese is tied for first in the conference in hits.
Infielder and senior Rob Liddington Jr. leads the offense with nine home runs and 30 RBIs.
UIW is ranked second in the conference in RBIs (194) while its third in home runs (29).
The offense is also tied for 18th in the nation in hits.
Lefthanded pitcher and graduate student Josh Salinas leads the staff with 28 strikeouts in 33 innings pitched. Salinas is 2-3 with a 6.00 ERA in six starts.
The UIW pitching staff is sporting a 7.87 ERA in 228.2 innings with 184 strikeouts.
Last season, UIW went 26-31 overall and 10-14 in conference play as it made its third straight trip to the conference tournament since 2021.
UIW is led by head coach Ryan Shotzberger who enters his sixth season at the helm with a career record of 118-137.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
This will be the 25th overall meeting between LU and UIW since both programs first met back in April 2015. LU leads the series 15-9.
LU has won five of the last six meetings. Both teams played each other five times in 2024, twice at the SLC tournament.
MIDWEEK SUCCESS
LU is now 9-0 in midweek contests with only seven more remaining.
Breakdown by conference:
- 3-0 vs. Conference USA
- 3-0 vs. American Athletic Conference
- 2-0 vs. The Summit League
- 1-0 vs. Horizon League
LU AT GLANCE
Damian Ruiz continues to be one of the hottest hitters in the nation as he is on a 26-game on base streak while he also rides a nine-game hitting streak.
Ruiz is tied for third in NCAA Division I with 13 doubles, tied for 12th in hits with 43 and tied for fifth in runs scored with 38.
During the nine-game span, he is 16 for 37 (.432) with three doubles, a triple, home run and seven RBIs.
Ruiz leads the team with 14 multi-hit games.
He leads the conference in batting average (.417), runs scored and doubles while he is seventh in slugging percentage (.670), seventh in on base percentage (.504), fifth in on base + slugging percentage (1.174), tied for first in hits, tied for third in triples (2), tied for sixth in at bats (103) and tied for sixth in walks (18).
Heladio Moreno and
Tab Tracy are both tied for sixth in the conference in hits (36).
Moreno is also eighth in the conference in batting average (.387) while Tracy is 10th (.379).
Brayden Evans recorded the second-longest hitting streak of the season (13 games). Evans is tied for ninth in the conference in hits (35), tied for sixth in RBIs (27) and tied for fifth in doubles (8).
Zane Spinn has gone 5 for 12 (.417) with four RBIs in his last three plate appearances.
Spinn is tied for 10th in the conference with 35 hits while he is tied for seventh in RBIs (27).
Zak Skinner has reached base safely in seven of his last eight plate appearances. He has eight RBIs in his last eight at bats.
As a team, LU is fourth in NCAA Division I in hits (289), three hits behind the nation's leader, Georgia.
LU is also 21st in the nation in batting average (.316).
In the conference, LU's offense is first in hits, first in batting average, tied for second in runs (210), third in doubles (52), third in RBIs (191), third in walks (137) and third in on base percentage (.414).
The pitching staff continues to lead the Southland Conference with 236 strikeouts, 232 innings pitched and eight saves.
Riely Hunsaker has the sixth-best ERA in the conference (2.30) while he is tied for sixth in batters struck out looking (9).
Chris Olivier is fifth in opposing batting average (.213).
Peyton Havard is fifth in batters struck out (33) and tied for seventh in saves (2).
The staff has allowed four earned runs in its last four games.
