Lamar knocks off 21st-ranked Southeastern Louisiana, 7-4

[NickKBTV]

BEAUMONT – Lamar University’s Clayton Farhat and Wade Mathis collected three hits each; Matison Smith and Garrett Steward came through some gritty pitching, and the Cardinals took advantage of faulty defensive play by 21st-ranked Southeastern Louisiana to defeat the Lions 7-4 Thursday night.



Farhat pulled a run-scoring triple down the right field line in the Cardinals’ four-run sixth inning that increased their lead to 7-1, and he also had two singles as he raised his season batting average from .293 to .317.



In stretching his hitting streak to eight games, Mathis singled in the second and sixth innings and added his seventh double of the season in the seventh.



Smith, a senior right-hander scattered 11 hits over 6.2 innings and struck out five and walked two in improving his record to 4-1. He left in favor of Steward after yielding a two-out, three-run double to Justin Boudreaux in the seventh inning.



Steward, a junior right-hander, held the Lions in check the rest of the way to pick up his first save of the season. He allowed one hit and struck out two batters without walking anyone.



The victory moved the Cardinals to 16-9 on the season and 3-7 in the Southland Conference. The Lions dropped to 23-4 and 7-3, respectively.



The Lions committed two errors in the fifth inning to make all three of the Cardinals’ run in that frame unearned. The Lions had two more miscues in the Cardinals’ big four-run sixth.

 

Catcher Chad Gough-Fortenberry went 3-for-4 for the Lions, and Boudreaux and Jeff Hankensee added two hits each. The Vincent-Beck Stadium crowd of 423 saw the Lions outhit the Cardinals 12-10, but the Cards’ came through with more timely hits.



The teams will play Game 2 of the three-game series at 6:30 p.m. Friday, also in Vincent-Beck Stadium. The series finale is set for 1 p.m. Saturday.

[OldNedDog]

Good win....hopefully this is a step in the right direction.

[ForeverADog]

This game was all about Matison Smith, Garrett Steward, and Southeastern lack of defense. In hind sight coach G left Mati in for one too many batters. But Steward pitched great. Matison got several key ground balls for double plays. I have seen high school teams play much better defense than SELA last night. We did a great job capitalizing when we had the chance. Great win and let's go get them again tonight.