May 16, 2008

Box Score

When his career is over Jim Gilligan is sure to have many more wins but the way Lamar delivered its head coach his 1100th career victory is one that will stick in his memory bank for a long while.

Lamar fell behind 10-0 after two innings only to fight back and tie the game at 10 with a six-run ninth. After a scoreless tenth, Lamar senior pitcher Tim Erickson drew a one-out walk in his first career plate appearance, moved to third on a two-out double down the right field line by Tyler Link and scored the game-winning run on Brian Taylor's single to center for a 11-10 Cardinal victory.

The win gave Lamar (31-21, 19-10 SLC) its second-straight Southland Conference East Division title and clinched the No. 2 seed in next week's SLC Tournament. Erickson (8-2) earned the win for the second-consecutive night, while LeBleu (2-5) suffered the loss for the second straight night. McNeese dropped to13-41 overall and 7-22 in SLC action.

The Cowboys jumped on starter Brian Needham for seven runs on five hits, including a grand slam and a two-run homer in one-third of an inning. They added three more runs on two more hits in the second to go up 10-0.

Lamar pushed one across in the second and two in the third before trimming the deficit to 10-4 with a single run in the eighth. Then the ninth-inning rally came alive.

With two outs and just one runner on, David Moore singled to right as Travis Dunson moved to second. Dunson scored on Chris Dunkin's single to center and then Nik Gumeson pinch-hit for Jeremiah Sammy. Gumeson crushed a 1-1 fastball over the wall in left-center to make it a 10-8 score. Wade Mathis then delivered one of the biggest hits of the inning as he doubled down the right-field line and came home on Tyler Link's two-run homer to left-center.

Steven Tucker had a season-high four hits on the night, while Link had a single, double and home run in addition to driving in two runs.

For Lamar, Justin Walker was the fourth pitcher used and had one of his better outings of the year. The junior struck out six - one shy of his season-high and allowed just five hits and no runs in 7.1 innings.

McNeese's Jonathan Conrad had things going nicely until he got into trouble in the eighth. The Cowboy starter struck out five and had allowed just four unearned runs in 7.1 innings. Scott Holstein allowed six runs on seven hits as Lamar fought back into the game.

The teams will conclude their regular-season on Saturday at Vincent-Beck Stadium at 1 p.m. Lamar will recognize its nine seniors prior to the game.