BEAUMONT, Texas — The Lamar University baseball team will officially kick off its season Saturday with a three-game series at UT Rio Grande Valley. The series was originally slated for a Friday start, but due to the ongoing weather issues both teams elected to push the start to Saturday.
The first game of the doubleheader will begin at 11 a.m., with the second game slated to get under way at 2 p.m. Sunday’s contest is slated for a noon start. All three games will be played at the UTRGV Baseball Stadium. Saturday’s doubleheader will serve as the season opener for both teams.
For the Cardinals, it will be the first game since COVID caused an early shutdown to the 2020 season just 17 games into year.
The Cardinals will be led by preseason All-Southland Conference selection Anthony Quirion. The Dixville, Quebec native was hitting .324, with three home runs, three doubles and 18 RBIs at the time of the shutdown to go along with flawless play in the field recording a percentage fielding percentage.
The Cardinals lead the all-time series over UTRGV (formerly UT Pan American), 72-48 (.600), in a series that dates to the 1967 season, but it will be the first meeting between the two schools since 2018. The Cardinals are 27-27 (.500) against the Vaqueros in Edinburg but have won just four of the previous 10 meetings. The two teams have split the previous four contests.
The Cardinals’ starting rotation will consist of Trevin Michael – Saturday Game 1 – (Career: 2-1, 2.42 ERA), Zach Bravo – Saturday Game 2 – (Career: 1-0, 2.95 ERA) and Dylan Johnson – Sunday – (Career: 2-5, 4.57 ERA). The Vaqueros will counter with Kevin Stevens (2-1, 3.48 ERA), Kevin Palm (4-2, 5.86 ERA) and J.C. Ariza (3-2, 3.61 ERA at Howard College).
All three games will be closed to the public – except for those individuals on the team pass list. The game will be streamed live on the WAC Digital Network.