April 11, 2005

BEAUMONT - Winners in eight of its last 10 games, Lamar University hosts long-time rival No. 21-ranked Louisiana-Lafayette in non-conference baseball action Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Vincent-Beck Stadium.

Lamar is 24-12 overall after taking two of three at Louisiana-Monroe over the weekend. UL-Lafayette is 26-9 and is coming off a three-game sweep of visiting Texas-Pan American.

The first 300 fans through the turnstiles will receive a free T-shirt compliments of The Coin Group, Golf Greens Fore U, Mathews Jewelers, Beaty Insurance and The Garden of Gethsemane. The first 200 children age 12 and under will receive Lamar player trading cards. Also, it will be $1 hot dog night at Vincent-Beck Stadium.

This will be the second meeting between Lamar and UL-Lafayette and the Cardinals will be looking to avenge an earlier 23-3 loss on March 22 in Lafayette. Lamar, who swept the season series last year, has won five of the last eight meetings, and holds a 68-59 all-time series advantage.

Freshman Scott Meyer, who is 0-0 with a 9.72 earned run average, will be making his second start of the season for the Cardinals. Micah Cockrell, who is 2-1 with a 1.59 ERA in 10 relief appearances, will be making his first start of the season for the Ragin Cajuns.

Freshman Collin Delome and sophomore Michael Ambort are Lamar's hottest hitters over the last two weeks. DeLome, a native of Buna, is hitting .400 (8-for-20) with six runs scored, a double, two triples and four runs batted in. He is now hitting .351 for the season with 20 runs scored, five doubles, four triples, two home runs and 20 RBI. He is riding a season-high seven-game hitting streak.

A native of Rockville Center, N.Y., Ambort is also hitting .400 (10-for-25) over the last six games with nine runs scored, a double, three home runs and five RBI. For the season, he is hitting .339 and leads the team in runs scored (36), home runs (9), RBI (31) and slugging percentage (.661).

Senior Adrian Cantu is hitting .338 with 33 runs scored, a team-high 11 doubles, eight home runs and 23 RBI. Junior Matt Lambeth is hitting .346 over the last six games and has an eight-game hitting streak, which is tied for the longest streak by a Cardinal this season.

Lamar is hitting .298 as a team with 243 runs scored, 87 doubles, 14 triples and 30 home runs. The pitching staff has a 4.33 team ERA with 274 strikeouts and 142 walks in 314 innings pitched. The Cardinals have a .955 fielding percentage.

John McCarthy leads UL-Lafayette in hitting at .383 with 27 runs scored, nine doubles, two home runs and 27 RBI. Jefferies Tatford is second at .355 with 21 runs scored, seven doubles, two home runs and 20 RBI. Dallas Morris is hitting .336 with 28 runs scored, four home runs and a team-high 33 RBI. John Coker leads the team with 47 runs scored and 19 stolen bases, and is hitting .325 with six triples.

UL-Lafayette is hitting .326 as a team with 289 runs scored, 80 doubles, 11 triples and 28 home runs. The pitching staff has a 3.25 team ERA with 303 strikeouts and 84 walks in 315.1 innings pitched. The Ragin Cajuns have a .963 fielding percentage.