Cowboys pull out series win

Published 5:24 pm Monday, April 18, 2016

Lamar sports information

BEAUMONT — The very first batter of the game came around to score, and McNeese State pitching made it hold Sunday when the Cowboys put together 1-0 win over the No. 25 Lamar baseball team in a brutally gusty afternoon at Vincent-Beck Stadium.

The loss gave the Cardinals their first series loss in five weeks, dating back to the first weekend of the league schedule.

Ricky Ramirez started the game with a leadoff single into left field and scored with two outs on a crushed double to right field from cleanup hitter Joe Provenzano. Including the run that scored, only two Cowboys reached third base, the other being Connor Crane after he kick-started the eighth inning with double that Reid Russell brought back over the wall to keep it from being a home run.

MSU (22-12, 12-6 Southland Conference) starter Ethan Stremmell (3-1) worked 8 1/3 shutout innings with six Cardinal hits allowed. None had more than one.

He was pulled in the ninth after Jake Nash singled through the left side with one out, and Collin Kober took over to collect his seventh save of the year.

Lamar (26-10, 11-4) had a few opportunities to get back into the ball game, but a couple of double plays in the second and sixth innings killed rallies.

Russell led off the second with a double to left field and advanced to third base when Robin Adames punched one into right. Cutter McDowell flew out to center, holding Russell at third base. Jacoby Middleton drew a walk to load the bases, but Chaneng Varela chased a tough pitch and rolled into a 4-6-3 double play to end the frame.

In the sixth, Stijn van der Meer led off the frame with a single into right, but Nash rolled over in the next at-bat and was caught in a 6-4-3 double play.

Three Cardinals made it into scoring position, the final being Nash in the ninth when he took second base on a walk to Russell. Kober was able to end the game on a groundball.

Jayson McKinley (2-1) started the game for LU and pitched four full innings with the lone run allowed on five hits and one walk. He struck out two.

Travis Moore relived him in the fifth and worked 3 1/3 scoreless with three hits allowed and one walk. Jimmy Johnson closed out the contest with 1 2/3 innings pitched and was hitless with two walks. Both Moore and Johnson recorded three punchouts.

The top four batters of the LU order (van der Meer, Nash, Bryndan Arredondo and Russell) recorded hits in the six team base knocks. Adames and Satran had the other two.

Wind gusts in the game were recorded at 22 miles per hour and never let up the entire game. Both teams squared up pitches that were cut down into the wind.

The Cardinals will return to action Wednesday at 4 p.m. when they face off against Texas Southern at Vincent-Beck Stadium in non-conference action. The next two Southland Conference series will be on the road, first Houston Baptist (Friday-Sunday) and Incarnate Word (April 29-31).