KFDM COOP Posted February 27, 2007 Report Posted February 27, 2007 Lamar beats Arkansas St. at Cardinal Classic finale BEAUMONT - There's nothing like raising his batting average by 100 points over a three-game stetch to put a baseball player in a better disposition. Advertisement Click here to go to JK Chevrolet That's exactly what Dan Hernandez did over the weekend as Lamar University swept to the Cardinal Classic championship with victories over Northwestern, Creighton and Arkansas State. Hernandez entered the tournament on Friday night with a .261 average. He had six hits in 23 at-bats in the Cardinals' first six games with one double and two runs batted in. Hernandez started the weekend rather meekly with one hit in four at-bats against Northwestern. The big first baseman, who the ripped the ball for a .350 average last season, finished the tournament on a tear, however, by putting together a pair of 3-for-4 outings. In Sunday afternoon's tournament finale - an 8-5 win over Arkansas State, Hernandez boomed a double in each of his first three at-bats and came within one of his career high of five RBI in a game. Hernandez's handiwork before Sunday's crowd of 628 in Vincent-Beck Stadium was typical of what the Cardinals did in the tournament sweep. They averaged 13.7 hits and 12.0 runs in stretching their winning streak to five games and their early record to 6-3. "I struggled a little bit at the beginning of the season," said the 6-foot-3, 250-pound Hernandez, who is a nephew of former major league All-Star Keith Hernandez. "It was like I was way too anxious to hit the ball. "I finally said, 'To heck with this. I need to slow myself down and get myself out of this funk.' I worked in the cages on a few drills I learned from a hitting coach back in California (his home is in San Carlos, Calif.). "I started the season having way too much pull action on the ball. I needed to get out of that and just try to meet the ball where it's pitched." Hernandez certainly met the ball where it was pitched Sunday afternoon. In the first inning, he powered a double over ASU centerfielder Aaron Ferguson's head to drive in Erik Kanaby and Collin DeLome with the game's first two runs. "That was a two-out situation, and I kinda had a feeling they would throw some breaking stuff up there," said Hernandez, who is now batting .371. I told myself to wait and to try and stroke the ball and not to jump at it. That was a key hit, because it's a lot easier to play with a lead than it is to play from behind." With DeLome again on base in front of him in both the third and fifth innings, Hernandez again delivered RBI doubles, the first to tie the score at 4-4 and the second to give the Cardinals the lead for keeps at 5-4. In addition to Hernandez's contributions, DeLome went 2-for-5 and scored three runs, and Michael Ambort, Ryan Baker and Kanaby each had a run-producing hit. Kanaby's sixth-inning single extended his hitting streak to 14 games dating back to last season, and Brian Lloyd's leadoff single that led to a second-inning run gave him at least one hit in all nine games this spring. The Cardinals also received a strong relief performance from Tim Erickson. The junior left-hander replaced starter Matt Morgal in the third inning and pitched the final 6 2/3 innings to earn the victory. He allowed five hits and one run while striking out two and walking one. "I'll tell you what, Erickson did a great job," said Jim Gilligan, Lamar's head coach. "That's the second time he's done that. He gave us seven innings of no-hit ball in Texas-Pan American's tournament down in the (Rio Grande) Valley. "I was really planning on going with Tim for just two or three innings since we have a bunch more games this week, but they (the Indians) didn't match up too well on him. He was in such good control I decided to let him stay out there, and I'm really proud of what he did. "After that game down in the Valley, I told Tim he had earned a start, but he told me he would rather come in in relief. That's kind of a team deal, and I like to see that in a pitcher, because most college kids want to be starters." The pace picks up for the Cardinals this week. They'll host LeMoyne University in single games Tuesday night and Wednesday night, then they'll stage the Lamar Classic Friday, Saturday and Sunday. California-Santa Barbara, Kansas State and St. John's are coming to town for that one. Northwestern 4, Creighton 3Northwestern catcher Chad Noble slugged a solo home run to snap a 1-1 tie in the third inning, and the Wildcats went on to post a 4-3 victory over Creighton in Sunday's first game of Day 3 of the Cardinal Classic. The Wildcats padded their lead to 4-1 in the sixth inning when Aaron Newman scored on a wild pitch and Geoff Dietz had an RBI single. The Blue Jays closed to within 4-3 by pushing across single runs in the sixth and seventh innings, but that's as close as they got. Meanwhile, Wildcat pitchers Ryan Myers and David Jensen combined on a seven-hitter with Myers getting his first win of the season and Jensen his second save. Myers worked the first six innings and allowed six hits and two runs while striking out five, and Jenzen finished up with three innings of one-hit, one-run ball.
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