Lamar sports information

HOUSTON – Jacoby Middleton’s 3-for-4 day was highlighted by a two-run blast over the left field wall in the seventh inning as the Lamar Cardinals defeated Houston Baptist 3-1 at Husky Field on Friday afternoon in Southland Conference action.

His long ball secured a win in another great outing from the Lamar (27-10, 12-4 Southland Conference) hurlers in what was an early pitcher’s duel. Houston Baptist fell to 18-18 on the year and 9-7 in league play.

Cutter McDowell kicked off the seventh inning with a deep double that fell just inside of the right field foul line on the first pitch he saw. Middleton looked at a ball and a strike before he laced a ball that just kept going. It was junior transfer’s sixth homer of the year, second on the team, which tripled what he had in his first year with the Cards back in 2013.

“The big swing on a tough day because of the wind was obviously Jacoby,” said Gilligan. “We found a way to scrap one out on a day it was tough to score.”

Will Hibbs (8-1) picked up his fifth straight win in as many starts on the hill in six innings of work. The senior allowed five hits, all the Huskies accounted for, with one run given up. He struck out four and walked none. Fernando Martinez picked up the first save of his career with three perfect innings and two strikeouts.

“We had a great day of pitching,” said head coach Jim Gilligan. “Fernando was in total command the whole way. He went nine up, nine down.”

Between the two of them, they accounted for five perfect innings in the contest, and only the run-scoring fifth frame had more than one hit and baserunner in the inning.

Lamar jumped on top in the second inning when Middleton, who reached on a single down the left field line, scored on Chaneng Varela’s one-out double down the right field line. Lamar looked to add more to the inning, but ran into a couple of outs on the base paths. Varela tried to take home on an infield groundball, but was called out and Satran — who reached on the fielder’s choice that got Varela — was picked off of first base.

A two-out double from Louie Payetta scored Blake Thomas from first base on a double to right field and tied it at 1-1. Thomas reached on a one-out double through the left side.

Big Red was able to put together 10 hits in the game, which notched the 21^st game with double-figure hits. Middleton’s three base knocks topped the team followed by two from Jake Nash in four at-bats. McDowell, Reid Russell, Robin Adames, Varela and Satran all added one hit each.

It was Middleton’s second three-hit contest; he also singled in the ninth inning.  Nash had his 11^th multiple-hit game of the year.

“(Christian Thames) did a great job against us,” said Gilligan. “It seemed like every time we had a chance to rally, it was with two outs or he was able to kill it.”

Thames pitched a complete game and struck out four batters with two walks allowed.

The two teams will play a doubleheader Saturday at 11 a.m. in an effort to avoid any weather that may come Sunday. Billy Love (3-2, 3.22 earned run average) is expected to go in the early game while Jayson McKinley (2-1, 3.26) is projected to pitch the second game for Big Red.