BEAUMONT, Texas – Two historic win streaks will collide this weekend in Hammond, La., as the second-place Lamar Cardinals, winners of 14 in a row, will take their shot at the two-time reigning Southland Conference champion Southeastern Louisiana Lions, winners of their last 20 games, in a battle of the top two teams in the conference. The series starts with a Friday doubleheader (4/6 p.m.), which will be streamed on ESPN+, while Saturday's first pitch will begin at noon.
 
PREVIOUSLY
The Cardinals (25-15, 11-4 SLC) took down Baylor, 10-8 in a nine-inning thriller Monday to stretch their program record win streak to 14 games. Gracee Hess tied a career-high with four hits and drove in three runs, including the game-winning two-run double in the ninth inning. Ava Prejean earned the victory in relief with four innings, allowing one run on two hits.
 
ROXY OF ROCKWALL ROCKS THE BEARS
Roxy Thompson hit two homers Monday, which was the 14^th multi-homer game in program history. After extending LU's lead to four with a solo blast off the foul pole in the sixth, the Rockwall junior rescued the Cardinals with a game-tying home run with two outs in the seventh. Thompson has three home runs in the last two games.
 
ISA GETS NATIONAL LOVE
Following her weekend series against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Isabella Flores was tabbed as the D1Softball.com Mid-Major Freshman of the Week after batting .600 with nine RBI, three homers and one double. This was her second weekly honor for the week after being named SLC Hitter of the Week
 
CARDS ON NATIONAL WATCH
LU's win streak has also gotten them national recognition, as it was ranked 23^rd in the Softball America Mid-Major Power Rankings. This matches the highest ranking the Cardinals have received in any national poll since appearing in the first D1Softball.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll last season. 
 
   
LAST TIME VS. SOUTHEASTERN LA
The Cardinals lost two of three to SLU in last season's series. Big Red won Game 1, 5-3 as Cala Wilson drove in four RBI while Reagan Smith (5.1 IP, four strikeouts, three runs, five hits) got the win and Mallory Pitre earned the save by recording the final four outs, including two strikeouts. The Lions came back to win the series, 2-1 and 3-2.
  
ABOUT THE LIONS' OFFENSE
The Lions (35-9, 15-0 SLC) held on to a 5-4 victory over Southern Miss Wednesday evening in a non-conference affair for their school record 20^th straight victory. As the conference's only undefeated team, SLU is the conference leader with 378 hits, including a conference-best 60 from Shelby Morris (.400 BA), who is also tied for second with 17 stolen bases. Maria Detillier leads the Lions with 37 RBI and seven homers.
 
AMONG THE ELITE PITCHING STAFFS IN THE COUNTRY
Hammond's favorite team has the third-best pitching staff in the nation with a 1.65 ERA, only behind Tennessee (1.08) and Mississippi State (1.55). Cera Blanchard (1.08 ERA, 11 wins, 54 Ks), Haley Crawford (1.08 ERA, four wins, 37 Ks) and Hallie Burns (1.64 ERA, 13 wins, 69 Ks) occupy the top three spots in the SLC ERA category and have combined for 28 wins and 160 strikeouts.
 
UP NEXT
The Cardinals will begin a six-game homestand with a midweek conference series against Northwestern State. Tuesday's doubleheader starts at 3 p.m. while Wednesday's finale begins at 2 p.m. All three games will stream on ESPN+.