BEAUMONT, Texas — It's not an understatement to say that Lamar University had an exciting finish to the 2023 regular season. The Cardinals won four straight and six of seven to close out the year and moved from seventh in the conference standings up to third. The Cardinals will try and turn that momentum into a hot start at the Southland Conference Championships as they open the tournament against No. 4 seed New Orleans (33-22/13-11 SLC).
Lamar's opening-round game of the double elimination tournament will begin Wednesday at Joe Miller Ballpark in Lake Charles, La.
The Privateers had a similar finish to the regular season. UNO won six of their final eight games and had to take two of three from eventual regular season champion Nicholls on the final weekend to pull into a tie for third with Big Red, but the Cardinals earned the three seed based on their head-to-head outcomes.
It's been a while since these two teams met on the field as they opened conference play on Mar. 24th. The Cardinals won the opening game of the series, 4-2, and took two of the three games to win the series.
Wednesday's game will be an interesting game within a game, as the Privateers bring the league's best batting average into the game (.297) while the Cardinals own the league's top earned run average (3.95).
On the season, UNO is hitting .297 with 102 doubles, 83 home runs and 398 runs batted in. On the mound, UNO has posted a 5.49 ERA with 410 strikeouts to 271 walks. On the flip side, the Cardinals are hitting .280 on the year with 102 doubles, 41 home runs and 299 RBIs. The Cards' staff has struck out 415 batters to just 196 walks.
Should the Cardinals defeat New Orleans, they will face the winner of No. 2 UIW vs. No. 5 Northwestern State Thursday at 6 p.m. If LU falls in the opening-round game they would play the winner of No. 1 seed Nicholls and the play-in game winner Thursday at 2:30 p.m.
All games of the 2023 Southland Conference baseball tournament will be streamed live on ESPN+.
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