KFDM COOP Posted May 26, 2007 Report Posted May 26, 2007 Game of inches ends LU seasonTEXAS-SAN ANTONIO 7, LAMAR 6By Tom Halliburton The Port Arthur News NATCHITOCHES, LA. — This game of inches just barely went against Texas-San Antonio on Thursday, but it went for the Roadrunners on Friday … right at time when Lamar’s season needed to be an inch or two in a different direction. Ryan Baker drilled a game-ending grounder right at UTSA third baseman Ryan Rummel. The Roadrunners’ infielder was shaded a bit toward the third base line. Rummel did not have enough time to move in any direction because Baker’s ball was scalded. If the ball got through Rummel, Lamar would have tied the game, and possibly won it in the bottom of the ninth. Instead, Rummel had Baker played perfectly. He cleanly fielded the ball and fired to first base, preserving a suspense-filled 7-6 ending to a Lamar post-season bid which contained more promise to it. The Southland Conference baseball tournament’s top two seeds waged a memorable finish to a Friday elimination game. And top-seeded West Division winner UTSA (36-21) survived while East Division champ Lamar ended its campaign at 35-24. In order to send the Cardinals home after three outings at Brown-Stroud Field, it required Roadrunners’ second baseman and leadoff man James Keithley to tie a school record with a 5-for-5 day. His fellow middle infielder — ninth-place hitter Marshall Davis — added a 3-for-3 game. Although Lamar came to life briefly with Dan Hernandez’s three-run, sixth-inning home run, coach Jim Gilligan’s 30th LU edition went a bit too silent with the bats during their season’s final 24 hours. Lamar managed only five hits in this loss – the exact number of Lamar hits also on Thursday in the 7-3 loss to Sam Houston State. “I guess it’s nice to hit a home run in my last game but I definitely would trade a ‘W’ for it right now,†Hernandez lamented with tears in his eyes. What bothered the Cardinals more than anything amounted to the difficulty in getting into a hitter’s groove against UTSA starter Ryan Proudfoot. The Roadrunners did a more effective job of touching LU starter Scott Meyer for four runs in 4 1/3 innings. Yet LU tolerated its uphill climb, scoring three in the sixth and two in the seventh to tie the game at 5-all. UT-San Antonio’s ninth-inning hero, Tim Palincsar, belted Brian Needham’s first-pitch fast ball to the left of Lamar right fielder David Moore for a two-run double, scoring Davis and Keithley for a 7-5 lead. The Cardinals had ample opportunity to offset Palincsar’s heroics, though. An infield error and a wild pitch permitted LU baserunners to reach second and third base with one out in the bottom of the ninth. To help the cause even more, the top of Lamar’s order visited the plate. Erik Kanaby grounded to second, allowing Lamar to score its sixth run but allowing UTSA to record its second out. That left it up to Baker against Roadrunners reliever Josh Blakley (8-0) with the tying run on third. Baker ripped the one-strike pitch so hard that UTSA’s infield had no chance to contain the ball if it had not traveled right to the Roadrunners’ third baseman. “They usually shade Baker a little bit the other way,†Gilligan reflected in the post-game interview. “He knocked it and the guy is standing right there.†Although he finished the year with two hits and compiled a season’s .406 batting average, Kanaby bemoaned his inability to get a hit on his final at-bat. The Roadrunners gladly traded an out for a run when Kanaby chased home Dunson with his grounder to second.
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