KFDM COOP Posted May 17, 2008 Report Posted May 17, 2008 Lamar Heads To SLC Tourney On Three-Game Winning Streak Following Sweep Of McNeese Cardinals will face either SE Louisiana or Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Wednesday May 17, 2008 Lamar did exactly what it needed to do on Saturday in preparation for the upcoming Southland Conference Tournament. Head coach Jim Gilligan used six pitchers and got enough out of them while producing enough offense for a 2-1 win over McNeese State for a series sweep and a three-game winning streak heading into Wednesday's tourney-opener. Lamar improved to 32-31 and 20-10 in league play and will face either Southeastern Louisiana or Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the first round. Lamar fell behind first for the third time this weekend after McNeese scored a run in the first inning on consecutive doubles by Taylor Freeman and Shon Landry. The Cardinals tied it two innings later when Tyler Link was the beneficiary of two throwing errors by Cowboy third baseman Nick Eubanks. Link reached on a wide throw, moved to second on a Steven Tucker single, advanced to third on a fielder's choice and scored on a double steal when Eubanks' throw on the second end of a rundown sailed over the catcher's head and allowed Link to score. Link ended up coming home in the seventh inning on a Travis Dunson groundout for the game-winning run. Lamar had nine hits - all singles - and limited McNeese to just five, including just one in the final five innings. Taylor McInnis (1-0), who was the fourth LU pitcher, threw one inning of shutout ball in the seventh to earn his first win of the season. John Ross Ramirez struck out one in the ninth for his first save of the McNeese's Jonathan Robbins (1-4) had a nice outing, lasting seven innings with five strikeouts but he took the loss after allowing both Lamar runs. Brian Taylor, Jared Hill and Tucker each had two hits for Lamar. The official bracket and start times will be released on Sunday.
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