LU vs Houston Baptist

The series beginning tomorrow is big. Lamar should win but sometimes that doesn't mean much. The pitching has been good and if the offense can get back on track we should come out okay. This series and the one with Incarnate Word next week are big, not just because they are conference games but both series are on the road. We take care of business away from VB Stadium then the road gets easier. Besides 10 of the last 16 games are on the road so LU needs to become true road warriors. How sweet would a sweep of both series be as we head into home games against SELA and SAM? But, it isn't a good idea to look too far down the road because it all starts tomorrow in Houston and we need to take care of business there, so..... GO CARDS!!!

Lamar wins the opener 3-1 behind 6 innings of 1 run ball from Will Hibbs. Jacoby Middleton provided a 2 run HR in the top of the 7th to break the 1-1 tie. Hibbs improves to 8-1 on the season and lowers his ERA to 1.90. Ironically, his lone loss came in a game where he didn't allow an earned run. The HR was Middleton's 6th on the year...hopefully he can get hot to finish the season like he started.

Good win and congratulations to Hibbs on another great performance. SELA and Sam both won also, so there is no change in the top.

It's interesting to watch how SELA and SAM are doing in the standings but the bottom line Lamar plays both down the stretch. We need to keep pace with them both and the win yesterday was just what the doctor ordered. Game 2 today is hopefully another win for the good guys.

Billy Love with a 2 hit shutout in game 1 today as Lamar wins 8-0. Reid Russell popped his 12th HR of the season as part of a 4 hit day at the play with 4 RBI. 6 Cards had multi hit games combined for all 16 hits today. van der Meer (2 for 4), Jake Nash (3 for 6), Russell (4 for 6), Robin Adames (2 for 5), Jacoby Middleton (3 for 5), Chaneng Varela (2 for 4)

 

Cards go for the sweep in the 2nd half of the double header today

Cards get the sweep scoring single runs in the 6th, 7th and 9th after falling behind 6-5 in the 2nd. Sweeping this series will guarantee that Lamar at least maintains pace with the leaders. Sam is out of conference next weekend so following the Incarnate Word series next weekend Lamar, SELA and Sam will all have played the same number of games.

Lamar is actually ahead of both SELA and SAM in the loss column in the overall records. SELA leads by 2 games in the loss column but we are tied with SAM. We take care of business we get both of them at home and we could take control of the conference. Again, I hesitate to look ahead but it's hard to deny the possibilities that could be. First things first, take care of UIW. Just because they are at the bottom of the heap we can't look past them. Take care of business like we should and the table will be set. Go Cards.

Have to keep in mind that the winner of the conference tourney is who represents the SLC in the regionals. Win the regular season title but lose in the tourney and it's more than likely all for nothing. Always tough for the SLC to get 2 in so we would need a really good showing to close the year to have a legit shot for that.

Cards pick up a game on SELA as McNeese scores two in the bottom of the 8th. Sam got a run in the bottom of the 13th to beat ACU and stay even with the Cards in the loss column. SELA plays HBU next weekend.

I think there is a good shot we get an at large bid. The Southland has had 2 bid years in baseball. The one sport our conference is respectable in.

The Southland had a 2 bid year in 2013. There used to be a website that showed the amount of bids conferences received per year, but I cant find it. Historically the Southland actually gets respect in baseball. I wish we got the same respect in Basketball.

I believe in order to get two bids, the Cards and SELA need to finish one, two in the regular season and both get at least to the semi finals of the tourney. Sam may have played a tough non-conference schedule, I haven't looked, but to me they have too many losses in the overall record. Cards need to sweep UIW this coming week, sweep SFA the last week of the season and go at least .500 in the series with SELA and Sam.

Over the past 10 years, the Southland Conference received two NCAA baseball regional bids in 2014, 2013, 2012, 2009, and 2005. I think the sweep over Houston Baptist will end up being important in the conference standings. Don't forget they won the conference tournament last year. SE La and SH still have to play Houston Baptist.

If you look at the college rankings composite on the thread in this forum Lamar matches up very favorably against the teams going down the stretch. SELA has a higher ranking but a worse overall record and LU is clearly better than UIW, SAM and SFA. Other than Rice I don't see any reason why Lamar can't sweep the remaining schedule. If they do or not doesn't matter if they don't win the conference tourney but wouldn't it be sweet to finish the season that strong? Darn tootin' it would. If we should finish out our final 10 games 9-1 we end up 38-11 and we win the SLC. Doing something like that would almost guarantee an at-large bid if we don't win the conference tournament. There I go looking too far ahead again. UIW --- we need to spank them good this week and it starts on Friday. One game at a time.