NATCHITOCHES, La. – The Lamar University baseball team rallied with two runs in the eighth inning to tie it and won it 6-5 in the 10^th, but fell in the second game 5-1 to split Sunday's doubleheader and drop the conference-opening series at Northwestern State at Brown-Stroud Field.
 
Northwestern State (8-7, 2-1) downed Lamar (10-6, 1-2 Southland Conference) in the conference opener, and road opener for LU, Saturday night in a dazzling pitcher's duel.
 
Already down 4-1 heading to the sixth in the first game Sunday, Ryan Erickson drove in Jacoby Middleton, who reached on a one-out error, with a fielder's choice. Middleton got into scoring position after Robin Adames was hit by a pitch and took third base on a wild pitch.
 
The Cardinals tied with a four-hit eighth frame. Middleton reached first on an infield single and advanced to second an error by the NSU first baseman. Adames doubled to center field to score Middelton. After a pitching change, Reid Russell singled through the left side and Erickson lifted a sacrifice fly to left that scored Adames.
 
Trey Silvers eventually doubled down a line, but another pitching change killed the Cardinal rally.
 
Neither team could put together something significant in the ninth, but each team was able to push runs across in the 10^th.  Russell led off the inning with a walk and advanced to second on a passed ball. Erickson stepped to the plate to lay down a sacrifice bunt, but another throwing error allowed him to get to second and Russell to score. Erickson eventually scored on Stijn van der Meer's infield single.
 
NSU's David Fry launched a home run to lead off the bottom of the frame, but that is all the Demons could muster.
 
Van der Meer, Middleton, Adames and Russell each had two hits in the first contest, and all but one Cardinal who stepped into batter's box had a base knock. Middleton scored the first run of the game on a home run over the left center field wall, it was his third of the year.
 
As a team, LU accounted for 13 hits and had four walks.
 
Jayson McKinley started the game for the Cardinals and worked 4.2 innings and gave up all but one of the Demons' runs. He allowed 10 hits and struck out three. Fernando Martinez and Enrique Oquendo combined for 3.1 frames with two hits, one walk and two strikeouts.
 
Jimmy Johnson (4-0) earned the win with two innings of work and gave up four hits and struck out one. Fry's home run was the first dinger hit off of the junior transfer.
 
NSU jumped out to an early lead with three runs on four hits and ran LU starter Billy Love out of the game with only one out under his belt. Nick Heath, the hero of Saturday's game, reached on an infield single and stole second right soon after.  He scored when Bret Underwood doubled to left, and Underwood scored two batters later when Daniel Garner doubled to center. The final run of the frame was Garner, who scored on Fry's single down the left field line.
 
Big Red cut it to 3-1 when Russell hit his fourth homer of the season to left field. The Cardinals tried to rally behind that with two more hits, but NSU danced out of danger. Cort Brinson made it 4-1 in the fifth when he singled home Spencer Goodwin, who reached on a leadoff walk.
 
The final run of the game was scored by Fry, who started the rally with a double to left center, in the eighth.  He took third on a single to right field from Cade Jones and scored on Matt Alford's sacrifice fly to central.
 
Travis Moore relieved Love with 5.1 innings and gave up one run on two hits and three walks. Galen Andrews pitched 1.2 frames and gave up the single to Sam Goodwin, and Brett Brown finished the game with 2/3 of an inning and one hit given up.
 
LU only had five hits in the second game, from van der Meer, Bryndan Arredondo, Adames, Russell and Gavin Tristan. Russell finished the day with two RBI, which lead the team.
 
The Cardinals host Houston at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, which opens a seven-game home stand for Lamar. Next up in SLC play is Central Arkansas for a three-game tilt that plays on Friday-Sunday.