Ruckdad

[Hidden Content] The Cardinals placed fourth at the NCAA Central Regional to advance to the NCAA Championships. May 29, 2007 WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - After posting a best-ever fourth place finish at the NCAA Central Regional, Lamar University is set to compete at the 110th NCAA Championship beginning Wednesday at Golden Horseshoe Golf Club-Gold Course. Lamar, who is the No. 7-seed, is making its second straight and fifth all-time NCAA Championship appearance after earning berths in 1983, 1985, 1986 and 2006. The Cardinals posted a best-ever seventh place finish at the 1986 NCAA Championship in Winston-Salem, N.C. Chris Stroud owns the best-ever individual finish by a Cardinal golfer, tying for third place at the 2003 NCAA Championship in Stillwater, Okla. The Cardinals tied for ninth place with the University of Washington at last year's NCAA Championship in Sunriver, Ore., with a 72-hole total of 6-over par 1,158. Dawie Van Der Walt placed fourth individually to pace the Cardinals with a 72-hole score of 7-under 281, which was the lowest 72-hole score turned in by a Lamar golfer at the NCAA Championships. Dusty Smith tied for 10th place at 2-under 286. A junior from Cape Town, South Africa, Van Der Walt tied for medalist honors at the NCAA Central Regional at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill., with a 54-hole score of 1-under par 215. He was one of only two golfers to finish under par. Van Der Walt has a 69.92 spring scoring average and a 70.54 season scoring average over 37 rounds. He is ranked No. 5 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index and fourth in the Golfstat collegiate rankings. A two-time Ping All-American, Van Der Walt was named Southland Conference Player of the Year and one of 10 semifinalists for the Ben Hogan Award. A senior from The Woodlands, Smith tied for 21st at the NCAA Central Regional with a 54-hole score of 226. He has a 72.84 spring scoring average and a 73.75 season scoring average over 40 rounds. He is ranked 179 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index and 229th in the Golfstat collegiate rankings. Oliver Bekker, a sophomore from Stellenbosch, South Africa, also tied for 21st at the NCAA Central Regional with a 54-hole score of 226. He has a 71.68 spring scoring average and a 72.40 season scoring average over 40 rounds. He is ranked 28th in the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index and 42nd in the Golfstat rankings. A sophomore from Cape Town, South Africa, Justin Harding tied for 63rd at the NCAA Central Regional with a 54-hole score of 234. He has a 72.24 spring scoring average and a 72.95 season scoring average over 40 rounds. He is ranked 104th in the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index and 108th in the Golfstat rankings. Casey Clendenon, a junior from Katy, tied for 82nd at the NCAA Central Regional with a 54-hole score of 236. He has a 72.92 spring scoring average and a 72.70 season scoring average over 40 rounds. He is ranked 92nd in the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index and 71st in the Golfstat rankings. The top 10 teams from each of the three NCAA Regional sites and top two individuals not on advancing teams qualified for the NCAA Championship. All 156 golfers will play 18 holes on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday while Saturday's final round is cut to the Top 15 teams and top six individuals not on an advancing team. Lamar golfers will be teeing off Wednesday starting at 12:59 (EST) from the 10th tee on the par-70, 6.809-yard course. -------------------------- Again you can follow all the action at golfstat.com

The Beck is scheduled to get some upgrades in the next few years, including installation of field turf and a new field house. An additional 1.5 million is allocated for improvements in the latest TSU meeting minutes.

There aren't 9 Hunter Pences in the system!

I don't know if I would call this a great season. With all the expectations coming in, I am actually a bit disappointed in the outcome.

Best I can figure - Should LU (or UTSA) beat Sam tonight, the winner of the SFA - Texas St game would play Sam tomorrow morning, and the winner of that game would play LU (or UTSA) that afternoon for the title. I am not sure, but this makes the most sense.

Cards down 3-0 in bottom of 5th - Kats still batting 0 outs runners on first and second

Same score after three.

1-0 Sam after two

Scoreless after 1 1/2. Why are the Cards the visiting team?

[Hidden Content] NATCHITOCHES, La. - Senior Ryan Baker went 4-for-5 to lead the Cardinals' 17-hit attack as No. 2-seed Lamar University opened the 2007 Southland Conference Tournament with a 12-2 win over No. 5-seed McNeese State Wednesday evening at Brown-Stroud Field. Lamar improved to 34-23 overall and McNeese State dropped to 21-33 overall. The Cardinals will play the winner of Game 3 between No. 3-seed Texas State and No. 4-seed Sam Houston State Thursday at 7 p.m. Top-seeded Texas-San Antonio posted a 4-2 win over No. 6-seed Stephen F. Austin in the tournament's first game. "Our kids did a great job at the plate against a very good pitcher (Derek Blacksher)," said Lamar coach Jim Gilligan. "I thought the team appeared to have a little better focus today. Whenever (Erik) Kanaby hits a home run its cause for excitement. I thought Allen (Harrington) did a good job of pitching out of some trouble when he had to and pitched a great game. This was just a good total team win." Senior Erik Kanaby started the game in grand fashion with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first inning. It was his second home run of the season and his Lamar career. Kanaby finished the game going 2-for-3 with five runs scored and two RBI. He became the seventh Cardinal to score five runs in a game and the last player to achieve the milestone was Collin DeLome on April 22, 2005 against Northwestern State. McNeese battled back with a pair of runs in top of the third inning. Justin Beitzel reached on a two-base throwing error by second baseman Brian Lloyd to lead off the inning. Andy Riche', who went 3-for-3, followed with an RBI single up the middle to tie the game. David Leatherwood drew a walk and Shon Landry sacrificed both runners into scoring position. After Bryan Cartie was intentionally walked to load the bases, Joe Hulett drove in Riche' with a sacrifice fly to center field to give the Cowboys a 2-1 lead. The Cardinals responded with four runs in the home half of the third inning. Kanaby led off with a walk and Baker followed with a single to center field. Collin DeLome delivered a 3-run home run that hit off the scoreboard in right field, which was his 10th of the season. Dan Hernandez singled to center to left center field and advanced to second on a wild pitch by McNeese starter Derek Blacksher. Keith Towne drove in Hernandez with a single up the middle to give Lamar a 5-2 lead. Brian Lloyd led off the bottom of the fourth with a walk and Kanaby followed with a single to left center field and advanced to second on Riche's throw to third to get Lloyd. Baker singled through the left side of the infield to drive in Lloyd. DeLome drove in Kanaby with a sacrifice fly to left field to make the score 7-2. The Cardinals added three more in the bottom of the sixth inning. Kanaby led off with his second walk of the game and advanced to second base on a wild pitch by reliever William Strong. Baker doubled to right center field to drive in Kanaby. DeLome followed with a single to center field to drive in Baker. Hernandez singled to left field to put runners on the corners. Pinch-hitter Jeff Vickers drove in DeLome on a fielder's choice ground out to put Lamar up 10-2. Lamar closed out the game with a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh inning. Travis Dunson singled to left field and Lloyd singled to center to put runners on the corners. Kanaby drove in Dunson on a fielder's choice ground out and DeLome singled in Kanaby with the game-ending run. The game was stopped when the Cardinals scored their 12th run due to the 10-run rule. Harrington (9-4) tossed his second straight complete-game against McNeese State and his team-leading sixth of the season. He allowed two unearned runs on five hits with three walks and five strikeouts in seven innings pitched. Blacksher (4-6) suffered his second straight defeat at the hands of the Cardinals. He allowed seven runs on nine hits with two walks and three strikeouts in three innings of work. In addition to having four hits, Baker scored two runs and had two RBI. DeLome went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and five RBI. Hernandez went 3-for-4 and scored a run. The 12 runs are the most scored by Lamar in an SLC Tournament game. The Cardinals also scored 12 runs in beating Jacksonville (12-4) in the 1995 Sun Belt Conference championship game.

As reported by the Lamar website, three hour plus long rain delay and the start of the Lamar game has been pushed back to approximately 5:30 pm.

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[Hidden Content] The second-seeded Cardinals play No. 5-seed McNeese State Wednesday at 3 p.m. May 22, 2007 NATCHITOCHES, La. - After wrapping up the regular season by taking two of three from McNeese State, No. 2-seed Lamar University will face the fifth-seeded Cowboys Wednesday at 3 p.m. on the first day of the double-elimination 2007 Southland Conference Tournament at Brown-Stroud Field. The rest of the first day matchups have No. 1-seed Texas-San Antonio playing No. 6-seed Stephen F. Austin at 11 a.m. and No. 3-seed Texas State playing No. 4-seed Sam Houston State at 7 p.m. The tournament winner receives the league's automatic bid to an NCAA Regional. The Cardinals posted a 2-2 record at last year's SLC Tournament in Beaumont. At the 2005 SLC Tournament, which was also played in Natchitoches, Lamar advanced to championship game before falling to UTSA. The Roadrunners have won two SLC Tournament titles (1994 and 2005) and both years the tournament was played in Natchitoches. Lamar enters postseason play with a 33-23 overall record and posted a 20-10 mark in winning the SLC East Division title. McNeese State is 21-33 overall and went 17-12 in SLC play. The Cardinals and Cowboys have met twice in SLC Tournament play with Lamar winning 4-3 in 2002 (Beaumont) and McNeese posting a 6-4 win in 2003 (Monroe, La.). The Cardinals posted a 4-2 win over the Cowboys in Beaumont last Thursday that clinched the East Division title and won 9-2 Friday in Lake Charles. McNeese won the regular season finale for both schools, 7-4, Saturday in Lake Charles. Lamar is 99-60-1 all-time against McNeese. The pitching matchup is likely to be a rematch from Thursday's 4-2 win by the Cardinals. Junior Allen Harrington, who was a second-team All-SLC selection, will be making his 16th start of the season for Lamar. He is 8-4 with a 3.97 earned run average with 98 strikeouts and 26 walks in 102.0 innings pitched. He tossed his fifth complete-game of the season in Thursday's win over the Cowboys, allowing two runs on four hits with three walks and six strikeouts. Derek Blacksher, an honorable mention All-SLC selection, is expected to start for McNeese. He is 4-5 with a 4.96 ERA with 84 strikeouts in 101.2 innings pitched. He pitched seven innings, allowing four runs on nine hits with two walks and six strikeouts in Thursday's loss to the Cardinals. Senior Erik Kanaby, who was named first-team All-SLC in the outfield, leads the team and ranks second in the SLC with a .397 batting average with 54 runs scored, 16 doubles and 20 runs batted in. He has walked 41 times and leads the SLC with a .496 on-base percentage. Junior Michael Ambort, who was a first-team All-SLC selection at catcher, is hitting .380 with 44 runs scored, 21 doubles, 11 home runs and a team-leading 61 RBI. Junior Collin DeLome, who earned second-team All-SLC honors, is hitting .329 with 57 runs scored, 15 doubles, seven triples, nine home runs and 52 RBI. Lamar is hitting .304 as a team, which ranks fifth in the SLC, with 355 runs scored (6.34 per game), 585 hits (10.45), 120 doubles (2.14), 15 triples and 47 home runs (0.84). The Cardinals have walked 202 times and struck out 316 times. The pitching staff has a 4.79 team ERA, which ranks fifth in the SLC, with 387 strikeouts (7.21 per 9 IP) and 202 walks in 483.1 IP. Bryan Cartie, who was a first-team All-SLC selection at third base, leads McNeese in hitting with a .353 average with 36 runs scored, 20 doubles, three home runs and 41 RBI. Joe Hulett is hitting .323 with 34 runs scored, 17 doubles, two home runs and 32 RBI. McNeese is hitting .278 as a team, which ranks ninth in the SLC, with 287 run scored (5.31), 504 hits (9.33), 103 doubles (1.91), six triples and 31 home runs. The pitching staff has a 5.68 team ERA, which ranks eighth in the SLC, with 311 strikeouts and 206 walks in 468.2 IP.

I think that you could legitimately make an argument for any of these six teams to win the thing. As a Lamar fan, I don't like the way we have pitched or played defense lately, but we definitely can swing the stick. If we get a couple solid starts from our core group of pitchers, we can win it. I am going to go out on a limb though and say that SFA wins the tournament.

And Dawie has the lead. Here is the story: [Hidden Content]

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Current pitchers - Oswalt, Santana, Felix Hernandez and Roy Halladay. Retired pitchers - Bob Feller, Bob Gibson, Koufax, Walter Johnson and Satchell Paige.

I read about this story yesterday on a prominent sports blog and thought it was awesome. I've always pulled for Griffey and respected the way he plays the game. This just makes him even more likeable - except when he plays the Astros.

What about Reggie Miller? Shot 44% from the 3-point line his senior year - the first year of the 3 in college and is the second leading scorer in UCLA history behind Kareem.

I've heard that story too JMay - but I think I heard recently that the quote was a myth. But Oliver could fill it up!

3 out of 4 isn't bad - after all it is all about winning series!

It would seem that a plan is in the works since they are adding women's soccer and women's softball, plus putting $10 million into Cardinal Stadium, there just hasn't been any announcement yet.

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If WB is going to win they need to sweep the first two games - SInce prom is Friday night, there will be a lot of tired and unfocused players come Saturday!

Just a couple of ideas I would like other thoughts on - 1. Ryan Freel did not catch that foul ball in the stands - he never had the ball when he came out of the stands. Anyone else see something different? 2. Why didn't CArlos Lee bull rush the catcher on that play at home with Luke Scott trailing him? If the catcher is on the ground, he can't tag Luke out. Any thoughts?