Baseball runs record to 7-1 with defeat of Albany
On the back of a 21-0 win, the Lamar baseball team defeated the University at Albany, 5-3, Feb. 23, at Vincent-Beck Stadium. The Cardinals successfully swept the Great Danes in a three-game series.
“I just told the guys, when we start the game, to secure the victory, and we accomplished that,” LU head coach Will Davis said. “There’s certain things we could have done a little bit better and there were some luck things that didn’t go our way, but we overcame all of that and we were able to get the win.”
The Cardinals scored the first run in the bottom of the first inning when outfielder Tab Tracy drove in designated hitter Damian Ruiz on a ground out to first base. LU infielder Hector Rodriquez brought in outfielder Heladio Moreno in the bottom of the second inning with a ground out to second base, to take the 2-0 lead.
After infielder Zane Spinn scored off of an Albany pitching error in the fourth inning to make the game 3-0, Ruiz hit a sixth-inning two-RBI double down the left field line, bringing in Rodriguez and infielder Caleb Castle to increase the lead to 5-0.
Albany responded with three runs in the seventh inning after a Cardinal error to cut the lead to 5-3, but the Cardinals did not allow them to get any closer.
Davis said that as a coach, he cannot dwell too much on the error.
“If you make a big deal out of it, it could bring the vibe down and it can lead to things that can snowball on you,” he said. “So, hey, look, it’s a one-off error and there’s no point in even mentioning it. You just got to pick your head up and go back out there and keep playing. And we were able to do that, and it didn’t affect us in the outcome of the game.”
Pitcher Kyle Moseley was able to shut out Albany to save the game for Chris Olivier (1-0).
“We played good defense except for one little hiccup there in the seventh inning,” Davis said. “And then we had some really quality overall at bats. (Our) pitching was solid today, we were able to have some timely hitting and get enough, and score enough runs to win.
The Cardinals are now 7-1 overall.
Coach Davis said despite the good start to the season, the team still has room for improvement.
“ We can work on everything.” he said. “If you look at our stats, we’re excelling at almost everything, but there’s bigger challenges ahead. So, we can’t be too cocky about where we’re at right now. We just gotta keep going out there and trying to improve and keep playing our game the way we’re playing it right now and we’ll be fine.”
The Cardinals will start Southland Conference play in a three-game series against the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley, Feb. 28, in Edinburg. The first game will start at 6:30 p.m. and will be streamed on
ESPN+.
