BEAUMONT, Texas – Lamar University enters the Southland Conference tournament as the fifth seed and will be placed in the Hammond, La. bracket to begin postseason play. Big Red's first round matchup sees a Cardinal showdown against fourth-seeded UIW at 1 p.m. Thursday. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
PREVIOUSLY
The Cardinals (30-22, 16-11 SLC) finished the regular season by taking two of three from Houston Christian. LU won the first two games by scores of 4-1 and 6-1 thanks to complete game pitching from both
Reagan Smith and
Ava Prejean.
WHO'S IN OUR REGION?
As the regular season conference champions, Southeastern Louisiana earns the No. 1 seed and the right to host one of the two four-team pods. Also in this region are No. 4 UIW and No. 8 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. LU is a combined 5-4 against these three teams by sweeping the Islanders, taking two of three from the other Cardinals and dropping three to the Lions.
AFTER NINE YEARS, YOU'RE FINALLY 30 AGAIN
This is LU's first 30-win season since the 2017 campaign that saw the program earn 34 victories. It also marked the second time in program history that LU recorded 30 regular-season wins, following the 2016 squad that won 32 games while adding three more in the conference tournament.
SOUTHLAND HONORS
Isabella Flores and
Sicily Windham were given honors from the conference Wednesday afternoon. Flores became the first LU player to receive the league freshman of the year award while Windham was tabbed as a member of the All-SLC Defensive Team at shortstop.
SLC TOURNAMENT HISTORY
This is Lamar's 14th appearance in the conference tournament. Big Red is 12-25 all-time, with its best finish being the runner-up in 2016. LU picked up a 6-5 win over East Texas A&M in last season's tournament.
REGULAR OR POSTSEASON, HAMMOND IS NOT A FRIENDLY PLACE
The last time SLU hosted the tournament was back in 2024, where Big Red fell in a pair of 5-4 losses in extra innings to UIW and Nicholls. All-time, LU is 1-19 in games played in Hammond, with the one victory coming against the hometown Lions, 6-5 on Apr. 12, 2019.
LAST TIME VS. UIW
Big Red took two of three from UIW by scores of 3-2 and 4-3.
Cimara-lei Wessling sparked the LU bats with five hits and an RBI in each victory, which included the game-tying home run in the latter contest.
Reagan Smith pitched two complete games, while earning the victory in the 3-2 affair.
UP NEXT
Should LU win the first game, it will take on the winner of No. 1 Southeastern Louisiana and No. 8 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Friday at 4 p.m. If LU falls, it will take on the loser of the other contest at 1 p.m.
