LU vs SELA Series Is Big

I don't care that Lamar didn't beat Rice at Reckling Park last night. I am happy they made a respectable showing against the 14th ranked team in the country and it's important they made a game of it. Losing 7-2 to a top 20 team is nothing to be ashamed of. This weekend's series against SELA could very well decide who wins the SLC regular season. SELA is 18-3 in conference and 32-13 overall while LU is 16-5 in conference and 31-12 overall. If LU can win the series they will be only one game behind SELA for first and could actually take over second place in the SLC from SAM who is 17-4 depending on what SAM does this weekend against TAMU-CC. SAM is likely to sweep last place Corpus setting the table for a showdown at the Beck the following weekend. As I have been saying, Lamar can't look ahead they have to take care of business with SELA beginning Friday night. You want to end the season strong and you want to position yourself as well as you can for the conference tournament. Beating SELA is a great first step toward that end.

Lamar looses game one, giving up eight runs in the fifth. Cards really need to take the next two for any chance of a regular season championship.

Game two SELA up 3-2 in the top of the 6th. LU scored one run in the third and one in the bottom of the fifth, but gave up three in the top of the fifth.

Cards need to get it going, bottom of the eighth down by three.

LU drops game two 5-2. Chances for a regular season title are pretty well shot as the Cards have two tough opponents in the last two series compared to SELA. Tomorrow is a must win game.

There is nobody to blame but themselves. It was right there on the table and all they had to do was grab it. The 'it' was the chance to steal 1st place away from SELA. It hurts even more as SAM is tied 1-1 in their series with TAMU-CC when T-CC jumped up and beat the Bearcats 2-1 yesterday. The rubber game of that series is today. LU will be trying to avoid being swept by SELA today. Yesterday's loss was their 4th in a row. They lost the series finale against with UIW last Saturday, they fell to Rice on Wednesday and the first two to SELA. Very disappointing to say the very least. One thing that won't change is LU will be in the conference tournament but you sure don't want to go into that rumblin', bumblin' and stumblin' which is exactly what the Cards are doing right now. C'mon Cards. Let's turn this around and finish the season strong.

SELA takes the final 2-1 to sweep the series and extend their lead through the end of the week. Cards had plenty of opportunity this weekend as they had the lead in every game but failed to hold it. The middle innings were where SELA took control. With two series left LU can still claim second place but will probably have to sweep both series as Sam took two of three from Corpus and LU is now three games back of SAM and five behind SELA. Lamar is still in third place but now only two games up on Northwestern State who holds the tie breaker by virtue of taking two of three from the Cards early in the year.

Lamar hasn't played well against the top teams in the conference. They lost the series against NW State, then McNeese, and now SELA.

Based on current conference standings LU can wind up anywhere from 2nd to fourth at the worst. LU finishes the season with SAM this coming weekend and SFA the following. If the Cards were to sweep Sam and take two of three from SFA they would wind up tied for 2nd with the tie breaker for seeding. If LU wins the Sam series and sweeps SFA the Cards will need help to come in 2nd. Anything less than four wins in the last two series and it will take help to hang onto third as the Cards are only two games up on fourth place Northwestern St who have a reasonable shot at sweeping their last two series with Nicholls and ACU.