Lamar sports information

AUSTIN – With one out and a 2-1 count on him in the ninth inning, Jake Nash drove a high fastball to center field and gave the Lamar baseball team a lead that turned into a 4-2 win over Texas on Tuesday night in non-conference action at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.

“He threw me two breaking balls that missed, and I got a good look at the fastball in the pitch before. I was really just sitting on that pitch and wanted to be ready to hit the ball hard,” said Nash.

Nash’s hit bounced into a soggy center field and allowed Gavin Tristan, who was a pinch runner for Chaneng Varela, and Stijn van der Meer from second and first, respectively. Varela led off the inning with a single through the left side and Tristan advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Brendan Satran.

Van der Meer was intentionally walked before Nash, who was 0-of-4 before the at-bat, popped his single, which was bobbled by centerfielder Tyler Rand.

Lamar improved to 17-7 on the year and notched its seventh straight win after back-to-back Southland Conference sweeps.

“Today was my day to get the big hit, but the thing about this team is that anyone can come up with that hit at any given moment,” said Nash. “I just wanted to put a good swing on that ball and I’m proud I did.”

“It was a great win. Everybody did a great job,” said head coach Jim Gilligan. “We’ve had some team losses, but this was a real team win. We hit the ball well tonight against some good pitching.”

The Cardinals walked away with 13 hits, led by Varela’s three in the contest, while Texas (11-14) recorded seven. Only Bret Boswell had a multiple-hit game for the Horns, and four Cardinals recorded two or more hits including Varela’s three.

Reid Russell, Robin Adames and Satran all had two hits in the game. The six nine-hole hitters finished the night 8-of-15 (.533). With Russell’s double in the third, he improved his hitting streak to 16.

“Every single pitcher we brought in did their job on the mound,” said Gilligan. “The two runs we gave up were guys getting over and balls squeaking through, that type of thing. I am proud of the team effort tonight.”

Jimmy Johnson (6-0) gets his sixth win of the year on 2 1/3 frames of work with just two hits allowed and one walk. Once LU took the lead in the ninth, Enrique Oquendo (3) was brought in to finish it off and had a perfect inning with two strikeouts.

Fernando Martinez started the game for Big Red and worked three innings of two-hit baseball and surrendered only one run. Travis Moore pitched 2 2/3 frames with one run allowed and four strikeouts. As a team, LU recorded nine punchouts.

Two-out base knocks put LU on top early, and it all started with freshman Adames’ double to the left center field warning track. Jacoby Middleton singled up middle after Adames took third on a wild pitch and scored the first run from there.

Back-to-back singles from Varela and Satran scored Middleton. Van der Meer extended his hit streak to 14 in the second inning, but Varela was gunned down trying to score on a rocket from Travis Moore that ended the rally.

Texas cut it to a one-run game in the third inning that started with a single to left from Zane Gurwitz. He took second on a wild pitch and advanced to third on a Cardinal infield error that put runners on the corners. Kody Clemens put down a sacrifice bunt and scored Gurwitz on a safety squeeze.

The Longhorns tied it up in the sixth inning single through the right side from Michael Cantu, who stuck out twice in his previous at-bats, which scored Kacy Clemens from second base. Clemens reached on a one-out single up the middle. He took second ground out to the right side from Boswell.

Nolan Kingham started the game for UT and pitched two innings of a predetermined outing. He gave up two runs on five hits.  The loss fell on Connor Mayes (0-3), who gave up two runs on two hits and two walks.

The win Tuesday gives LU three wins this season over programs that have won a national title in their history, and three wins over Power Five programs.

Lamar heads to Abilene Christian for a non-conference contest that opens at 6 p.m. on Friday. The second game of the series is slated for 2 p.m. Saturday and the finale is at 1 p.m. on Sunday.