BEAUMONT, Texas — Lamar University staved off elimination with a 3-2 victory over three-seeded UT Rio Grande Valley on Friday afternoon on Day 2 of the Southland Conference baseball tournament at Vincent-Beck Stadium.
The Cardinals will face sixth-seeded Northwestern State at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 16. The winner advances to play seventh-seeded Stephen F. Austin at 6 p.m.
LU struck first in the second inning.
Hector Rodriguez led off with an infield single, stole second and moved to third on a groundout by
Jake Wagoner.
Brayden Evans followed with a sacrifice fly to center after a 12-pitch at-bat to give LU a 1-0 lead.
UTRGV tied the game in the top of the third on a Thomas Williams RBI single to right center.
The Vaqueros missed an opportunity in the fifth, leaving the bases loaded after drawing three walks.
The Cardinals regained the lead in the sixth.
Tab Tracy opened the inning with a double to left, and
Beau Durbin followed with a bunt single to put runners on the corners.
A.J. Taylor delivered the go-ahead run with an RBI fielder's choice.
LU added an insurance run in the seventh on Durbin's two-out RBI single.
UTRGV answered in the eighth with an RBI groundout by Andrew Taylor after back-to-back singles by Diego Villescas and Hank Warren to open the inning.
The Cardinals closed out the win with a game-ending 4-6-3 double play.
RECORDS: LU (29-25); UTRGV (26-29)
GAME NOTES
- Durbin finished 2 for 4 with two singles and an RBI. Durbin is riding a seven-game hitting streak with six doubles, a home run and seven RBIs.
- This was Durbin's 14th multi-hit game of the season.
- Tracy went 1 for 4 with a double. Tracy now has 66 hits and nine doubles on the season.
- Rodriguez had a single to go 1 for 3 with a walk and stolen base.
- Wagoner went 1 for 4 with a single.
- Braden Benton and Theo Kummer both went 1 for 3 with a single.
- Balen Valentine had a pinch-hit single to go 1 for 1 with a stolen base.
- Chris Olivier improved to 6-4 after going six innings allowing three hits and one earned run with four strikeouts.
- Olivier is just four strikeouts away from reaching 100 for the season.
- Julius Carpio earned his third save after tossing two shutout innings not allowing a hit while walking one batter.
#PeckEmCards
