SUGAR LAND, Texas — With runners on second and third and one out, senior Ben MacNaugton took a 1-0 pitch back up the middle scoring Ethan Ruiz from third in the bottom of the 10th inning to defeat Houston Christian, 4-3, Sunday evening at Constellation Field.
It marks the third time this season the Cardinals (8-0) have won a game with a walk off hit, and the second time they’ve posted an extra-inning victory. It also marks the sixth time this season Lamar has recorded a one-run victory.
Sophomore Jackson Cleveland came on and pitched the final 1.2 innings without giving up a hit and striking out three to get victory. He improves to 2-0 on the season.
Sophomore Patrick Hail made his second start of the season, and he was one of six pitchers to take the mound. Hail went 1.1 Sunday allowing just the one earned run on four hits. He would give way to Jeremy Rivera who went 1.2 of no-hit ball but allowed a run due in large part to three walks. After giving up the third run of the game in the fifth, LU’s pen would pitch five scoreless innings. As a team, the Cardinals ended the day with 13 strikeouts.
HCU started Baylor Bauman who went 5.1 allowing two earned runs on four hits with a walk and two strikeouts. Jarek Wells was hung with the loss after pitching a third of an inning allowing the game-winning run on two hits.
The Cardinals finished the night with nine hits, including multi-hit games from Ben MacNaughton (2-for-5, 1 RBI, 1 run), Josh Blankenship (2-for-4, 2 RBI) and Easton Culp (2-for-3, RBI).
The Huskies jumped out to a three-run lead with solo runs in the second, fourth and fifth innings, but Lamar had answer in their half of the sixth. The Cardinals managed to load the bases with just one out and Josh Blankenship coming to the play. After falling behind in the count, Blankenship singled back up the middle scoring both Kevin Bermudez and Ben MacNaughton to trim the deficit down to just a single run.
Big Red’s pen got them through a scoreless seventh and Cardinals took advantage in their half of the inning. With two outs and a runner on third, the Cardinals got a sacrifice fly off the bat of Easton Culp to tie the game at 3.
The game would remain tied until the 10th inning, and it didn’t start well for the Red and White. The Huskies had a runner on third with no outs, and eventually had the bases loaded, but Cleveland got out of the jam to send Big Red to the home half of the inning still tied.
The Cardinals managed to get runners on second and third with just one out, which set the stage for MacNaughton. After taking the first pitch out of the zone, MacNaughton hit the second pitch he saw back up the middle driving in the winning run from third.
The Cardinals will look to continue their win streak Tuesday when they return home to host Alcorn State. The game against the Braves will begin at 6 p.m. from Vincent-Beck Stadium.
