Lamar Fights from 3-0 Deficit to Beat UT Arlington, 4-3, in Tournament Opener
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas ? Lamar left fielder Tyler Link drove in two runs in the seventh and the fourth-seeded Cardinals got two more in the ninth to claim a 4-3 victory over No. 5 seed UT Arlington Wednesday in the Southland Conference Tournament at Whataburger Field.
The Mavericks (29-25) scored in the second, third and fifth innings to build a 3-0 lead and starting pitcher Ryan Robinson had Lamar guessing for most of his six-plus innings, allowing just seven hits. Two of those were in the eighth inning to shortstop Jeremiah Sammy and designated hitter Cameron Campbell to start off the inning.
Link turned those mistakes into a pair of runs, though trailed heading to the eighth.
After a 1-2-3 in the top half, Lamar (37-20) tied the game when Sammy drew a bases-loaded walk before a sacrifice fly by catcher Ryan Saldivar gave the Cardinals a win and set up a date with top-seeded Texas State on Thursday.
Lamar got multiple hits from right fielder Quentin Luquette, third baseman Chris Dunkin and center fielder Anthony Moore, while four other Cardinals added a hit. UT Arlington’s Michael Choice was 3-for-4 to lead all hitters in the game. The teams combined for 19 hits and no errors.
Brian Nedham got the win in 5 2/3 innings of relief to improve to 4-3 on the season. He allowed just one run on four hits after entering in the third inning for starter Eric Harrington, who allowed two runs on four hits and a walk in 2 1/3 innings. UT Arlington starter Ryan Robinson, who allowed the first two runs of the game, was off the hook after reliever Rett Varner allowed the final two Lamar runs in his 1 2/3 innings.
The tournament continues Thursday with a pair of early elimination games followed by a pair of winner’s bracket games. Southeastern Louisiana and Northwestern State toss out the day’s first pitch at 9 a.m., Central. At noon, UT Arlington will play Stephen F. Austin. The 4 p.m. game pits UTSA and Sam Houston State, which will be followed by Texas State and Lamar at 7 p.m.
All Southland Tournament games will be streamed on SLC NOW on the Southland Conference web site at www.southland.org. Live stats are also available on the web site.
Lamar Head Coach Jim Gilligan
“They hung in there and the pitchers came in and did their job. The thing that I started to second-guess myself about is I didn’t want the big inning at the end. I didn’t want to put a runner on and risk a big inning.”
“I don’t know what the players want, but once you get over 60, you want to get the big-run games. It’s nice to win a game like this and see Testa come back after getting a lead-off hit and striking out one of the better hitters in the conference.
Lamar Relief Pitcher Brian Needham
“The biggest thing is pitch count for me. They are a free swinging team so I got a lot of ground balls early in counts to keep my pitch count down. Fortunately, I was able to go a little longer than normal because I kept the pitch count down early on.”
Lamar Outfielder Tyler Link
“I was a little bit late on my hit, but I got lucky and was able to get it down the line.
UT Arlington Head Coach Darin Thomas
“We had our chances to break the game open when we had the bases loaded and one out, but we just got one. Ryan did a great job in a starting role, but a couple of balls fell Lamar’s way late. It is disappointing, we got a great start but we just didn’t take advantage of some opportunities early. You have to give Needham a lot of credit, he went 5 2/3 innings and only gave up one run.”
“It is going to be tough. We have a quick turnaround tomorrow. When you get in the loser’s bracket, you just need one game to possibly get you some momentum. It’s late, it’s disappointing, everybody is disappointed but you got to give Lamar credit, they battled back. There are just little things that happened that created the big inning for them. We have to find a way to shut the door and come back tomorrow and garner some energy.”
UT Arlington Outfielder Michael Choice
“It’s very frustrating because we had them down the whole game, it’s just one of those games where you know you have the momentum all day long and at the last minute it gets away.”
“I don’t feel like we relaxed, there were some calls that could have gone either way, and a pitch here and there that could have made a difference. That changed the momentum.”
“All we can do is get in as soon as possible and get as much rest as we can. We have to come out and play our hardest.”
“We have 21 seniors on our team, and none of them want this to be their last game. If I was a senior in their situation, I would want to just go out and make sure that I played as hard as I can to make sure we didn’t lose and did the best I could for the team no matter what it was.”