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Fresh off winning the Southland Conference regular-season title and earning the No. 1 overall seed, the Lamar University Cardinals (41-13) will go in search of more hardware Wednesday when they open the Southland Conference Championship tournament against the eighth-seeded UIW Cardinals.
Lamar led the conference standings wire-to-wire forcing everyone else to play catch up. The Cardinals posted their 11th Southland Conference regular-season title after winning 41-games, the program’s first 40-win season since 2004. Lamar officially locked up the SLC title on the next to last day of the regular season after winning 11 of its final 16 games down the stretch.
It’s the exact opposite for Lamar’s first-round opponent. UIW struggled down the stretch and it all seemed to start with their trip to Beaumont to close out the month April. Still in the hunt for the SLC title at the time, UIW traveled to Lamar and were swept in the three-game series which seemed to start a freefall for the league’s other Cardinals. UIW dropped 13 of its next 14 games forced to defeat Houston Christian in their regular-season finale (a game that was played at Vincent-Beck Stadium) to earn the league’s final playoff spot.
UIW brings one of the best offenses in the Southland to the tournament. UIW is third in the league in hitting with a .287 batting average, 104 doubles, 62 home run and 368 runs batted in. San Antonio’s version of the Cardinals are third in the conference in home runs and second in the league in RBIs.
Lamar will counter with not only the top pitching staff in the conference but the entire nation. LU ended the regular season leading the nation in earned run average (3.48) and WHIP (1.19) while holding opponents to an imposing .223 batting average.
The Cardinals have the best 1-2-3 punch in the league with starters Brooks Caple, Jacob Ellis and Hunter Hesseltine. The senior trio all landed on the 2024 all-conference teams led by Caple who was named pitcher of the year.
The Cardinals will be paired up with the No. 4 Northwestern State vs. No. 5 McNeese contest. The other half of the eight-team double-elimination tournament consists of No. 2 Nicholls vs. No. 7 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and No. 3 New Orleans vs. No. 6 Southeastern Louisiana. With SLU hosting the tournament they have the right to select their start time and will play the 7 p.m., forcing Lamar’s have of the bracket into the morning session. The first game of the tournament (NSU vs. McNeese) will begin at 9 a.m. followed by Lamar and UIW set for a noon first pitch.
The tournament will be played at Pat Kenelly Diamond at Alumni Field in Hammond, La. Each Lamar game will be broadcast live on Newstalk 560 KLVI and streamed live on ESPN+.
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