Lamar sports information

NATCHITOCHES, La. — Dominating the Demons through eight innings, Lamar (9-12, 2-5 Southland) needed every one of its four runs scored Friday in a deceivingly close 4-3 decision over Northwestern State (10-9, 3-4 Southland). The Cardinals led 4-0 over the Demons but a tricky eighth inning almost played spoiler for LU before

Noah Sills was lights out all evening for LU, tying a career-best with eight strikeouts of the Demons — he set that career-best at TCU on May 5 of last year. Sills allowed just three hits and four base runners all evening with no walks. He faced the minimum through 3 2/3 innings, sitting down the first 11 batters he faced.

“Noah was unbelievable tonight in the Friday night starter role,” said head coach Will Davis. “He completely dominated them and was executing pitches all night long. AJ Ozorio-Brace came out in the last inning and showed a lot of poise for a freshman, pounding the zone and getting us the win. We had a lot of good at-bats throughout the game and could’ve led by five or six, but bad luck snagged us a couple of times. Overall it was a good win tonight.”

Lamar’s scoring came in one-run spurts. Robin Adames got his fourth homer of the year on the first pitch he saw in the game, driving a liner about 340 feet over the left field fence in the second inning. The senior from The Bronx, New York, put Lamar out front 1-0 and Sills struck out the side in the bottom of the inning to keep it Lamar 1, Northwestern State 0 through two innings.

A lead-off single from Logan Berlof got things started for the Cards in the fourth inning. The junior transfer from Panola College advanced to second on a sac bunt from Cole Coker and scored on a sac fly from JC Correa, and Lamar led 2-0 through four innings.

Northwestern State didn’t seriously threaten to score until the bottom of the sixth. A lead-off single reached second on a one-out bunt single. A flyout put runners on the corners and Sills forced a fielder’s choice to strand both. LU continued to lead 2-0 through six.

Adames led off with a single to right in the top of the seventh and advanced to second on a sac bunt from Rhett McCall. A two-out single from Anthony Quirion scored Adames before the Demons could get the third out. Lamar led 3-0 through seven.

A leadoff single from Avery George advanced to second on a single from Berlof and reached third on a fielder’s choice from Correa. A wild pitch during Adames’ at-bat scored George, putting LU out front 4-0.

Trouble struck for Lamar in the bottom of the eighth. Four hits, two walks, and an error scored three runs for the Demons. After eight innings Lamar led by just one run, 4-3, over Northwestern State.

Lamar went down in order for the first time in the game in the top of the ninth, putting momentum in Northwestern State’s favor. Ozorio-Brace came at the start of the bottom half of the inning and shut down the Demons, sitting them down in order. The Cardinals won 4-3 over Northwestern State.

Jason Blanchard (2-2) will face Jerry Maddox (0-1) on Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m.