BEAUMONT, Texas — Lamar University has a pair of midweek contests Tuesday and Wednesday before resuming Southland Conference play by hosting New Orleans for a three-game series beginning Friday, April 25.

The Cardinals begin the week by traveling to the University of Houston before hosting Prairie View A&M.

COUGARS AT A GLANCE

Houston is 21-18 overall and 6-11 in Big 12 play.

The Cougars are 4-6 in their last 10 games after dropping a five-inning game to Oklahoma State on the road Sunday during a weather-shortened series.

During the 10-game stretch, Houston suffered a three-game sweep to conference-leading West Virginia while it also took two out of three on the road against Baylor.

Houston is 2-2 against Southland Conference opponents this season, suffering losses to UTRGV and McNeese.

Sophomore outfielder Tre Broussard leads the offense with 46 hits and 34 runs scored.

Xavier Perez, a redshirt sophomore utility player, has a team-high 36 RBIs. Perez is batting .326 with seven home runs and 43 hits.

Junior infielder Cade Climie has a team-high eight home runs.

The Cougars are batting .253 as a team with 324 hits, 39 home runs and 243 RBIs.

Graduate student and left-handed pitcher Antoine Jean leads the pitching staff with a 2.84 ERA, three saves, a 4-1 record and 80 strikeouts in 15 appearances.

Paul Schmitz, a junior right-hander, has logged a team-high 47.2 innings pitched while he sports a 4.53 ERA in 10 appearances with 35 strikeouts.

The pitching staff has a 5.21 ERA in 342 innings with 383 strikeouts and 10 saves.

Houston is led by Todd Whitting, who enters his 15th season as head coach since taking over the program in 2010.

Whitting is 465-356-1 all-time as he has led the Cougars to nine winning seasons.

Under Whitting, the program's best season came in 2014 when it finished 48-18 overall after claiming the American Athletic Conference tournament title.

Last season, the Cougars finished 26-28 overall and 7-21 in conference play.

PANTHERS AT A GLANCE

Prairie View A&M is 8-30 overall with a 4-11 record in Southwestern Athletic Conference play.

The Panthers have dropped 14 in a row, most recently suffering a three-game sweep to Texas Southern.

Prairie View A&M is 0-9 against Southland Conference opponents this season.

Sophomore utility player Ahmar Donatto leads the offense with a .361 average, 44 hits, eight doubles, four triples and a .590 slugging percentage.

Landon Williams, a redshirt sophomore infielder, leads the way with 30 RBIs and seven home runs.

The offense is batting a collective .253 with 292 hits, 24 home runs and 174 RBIs.

Senior right-hander Leonardo Bravo leads the pitching staff with a 4.56 ERA, 2-2 record and 29 strikeouts in 20 appearances.

Left-hander and redshirt freshman Landyn Grant has logged a team-high 47.2 innings pitched with 25 strikeouts in nine starts.

The pitching staff has a collective 9.56 ERA with 195 strikeouts.

Head coach Auntwan Riggins enters his 10th season with the Panthers as he sports a 167-297 overall record since taking over the program in 2016.

Riggins led the Panthers to winning seasons in 2024 and 2022.

HEAD-TO-HEAD

This is the 89th meeting between LU and Houston since the series began in 1952. LU is 32-56 all-time.

The Cards are 4-6 in their last 10 meetings with the Cougars.

LU is 47-3 all-time against Prairie View A&M since the first meeting in 1988. The Cards are 14-0 since 2009.

The Cards are 105-9 all-time against SWAC opponents.

MIDWEEK SUCCESS

LU is 12-0 in midweek contests with only two remaining after this week. The Cardinals are 7-0 in midweek contests at home and 5-0 on the road.

Three of the four midweek contests are being played against Power Four opponents (Houston, Texas A&M and Texas).

The Cards have outscored their midweek opponents 130-59.

Breakdown by conference:

• 4-0 vs. Conference USA
• 3-0 vs. American Athletic Conference
• 2-0 vs. The Summit League
• 1-0 vs. Horizon League
• 1-0 vs. Western Athletic Conference
• 1-0 vs. Southwestern Athletic Conference

RANDOM STAT OF THE WEEK

Zane Spinn is not the only college baseball player in Division I wearing No. 99 this season.

There are at least seven other players in Division I that don the number. The teams with players wearing No. 99 include Texas, Vanderbilt, Miami (Fla.), Tulane, Alabama, North Carolina State and Clemson.

SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE STANDINGS

• McNeese (28-7, 16-5)
• Southeastern (31-9, 16-5)
• UTRGV (26-13, 17-7)
• Houston Christian (22-16, 14-7)
• Northwestern State (24-17, 15-9)
• Lamar (32-10, 13-8)
• New Orleans (23-15, 10-11)
• Nicholls (15-25, 8-16)
• A&M-Corpus Christi (14-26, 6-15)
• Stephen F. Austin (11-28, 3-18)
• Incarnate Word (15-25, 2-19)

CARDINALS AT A GLANCE

Damian Ruiz continues to rank in the top 10 of nine different offensive categories in the Southland Conference.

Ruiz is second in the conference in batting average (.411), sixth in slugging percentage (.652), first in on base percentage (.532), third in on base + slugging percentage (1.184), first in runs scored (61), first in hits (65), tied for first in doubles (16), tied for eighth in at bats (158), tied for sixth in triples (2) and first in walks (39).

Ruiz is one of only two batters in the SLC batting over .400, joining McNeese's Easton Dowell (.431).

Ruiz is on a 41-game on base streak while also riding a 24-game hitting streak.

Since 2010, the longest hitting streak in program history was recorded by Sam Bumpers in 2014 (28 games).

Ruiz is currently tied for third all-time with Stijn van der Meer.

He also leads the offense with 20 multi-hit games. Ruiz recorded his 14th two-hit game of the season on Saturday against Northwestern State.

Matt Ryan ranks third in the conference in on base percentage (.488) and fourth in hit by pitch (14).

Ryan tallied the second-longest on base streak of the season (16 games).

Heladio Moreno, who is currently on a four-game hitting streak, ranks fifth in the conference in batting average (.369) while he is tied for second in hits (59).

Brayden Evans leads the conference in at bats (174) while he is tied for fifth in runs scored (41), tied for seventh in hits (54), third in RBIs (45) and tied for third in triples (3).

Evans is tied for the team lead with 12 multi-RBI games alongside Zak Skinner.

Zane Spinn, who was most recently named to the Brooks Wallace Award watch list, is tied for seventh in the conference in hits (54), tied for ninth in RBIs (38) and tied for third in at bats (166).

Skinner is tied for fourth in the conference in RBIs (44), second in at bats (168) and tied for eighth in walks (24).

LU's offense is second in the conference in batting average (.311), first in runs scored (339), first in hits (450), third in doubles (84), third in triples (11), second in RBIs (303), third in total bases (358), fourth in slugging percentage (.454), second in walks (240) and second in on base percentage (.420).

Peyton Havard is fourth in the conference in ERA (2.79), third in opposing batting average (.209), fourth in strikeouts (59), tied for ninth in batters struck out looking (13), tied for sixth in wins (5) and fifth in saves (4).

Riely Hunsaker ranks third in the conference in ERA (2.60), 10th in opposing batting average (.251), ninth in innings pitched (52.0) and seventh in strikeouts (48).

Chris Olivier is sixth in the conference in ERA (3.09), fifth in opposing batting average (.227), tied for ninth in batters struck out looking (13) and tied for sixth in wins (5).

The LU pitching staff ranks second in the conference with a 3.88 ERA while it is tied for first in saves (11), first in innings pitched (364.1), first in strikeouts (367) and second in opposing batting average (.246).

LU's pitching staff has struck out 10 or more batters in 17 games. The game-high of 17 strikeouts came against Nicholls on April 11.