BEAUMONT – Looking to get back into the win column, the Lamar University baseball team returns home to open a seven-game home stand that starts with nationally-ranked Houston at 6 p.m. on Tuesday for some midweek action at Vincent-Beck Stadium.
 
Baseball America has UH (8-6) ranked 20^th after a huge three-game series win at Alabama in its last outing. The Cougars took game one, 3-1, and game two, 3-2, before it dropped the finale 7-6. The Cardinals (10-6) traveled to Northwestern State to open up league play over the weekend and fell in two of three.
 
Voice of the Cardinals Harold Mann will have the contest on KLVI 560AM. It can also be heard online at klvi.iheart.com or on the iHeart Radio app on iPhone or Android devices.
 
Two right-handers will face off on the mound Tuesday. Lamar will send out Brent Janak (0-0, 16.20 earned run average) while Houston will give Marshall Kasowski (1-1, 3.24) his third appearance and start of the year.
 
Janak has competed in two games with one start during the 2016 campaing. His last outing was in LU's last midweek game and he worked two innings with two hits and two strikeouts. His first appearance and only start on the year was against No. 5 LSU, and he was a victim of bad luck in the field.  On the season, he has 3.1 frames of work with six hits and runs allowed.
 
Kasowksi has worked 8.1 innings with four runs allowed (three earned) on nine hits and three walks. He has also struck out 11 on the season.
 
UH comes into the contest with a team .272 and a six runs per game average. The offense has a slugging percentage of .425, which includes 21 doubles, four triples and 15 homeruns. First baseman Joe Davis leads the team in batting average (.421), doubles (8), home runs (4) and runs batted in (21). Connor Wong is second in batting average at .368 and leads the team with 16 runs.
 
Catcher Bryndan Arredondo continues to lead Lamar in hitting on a .400 batting average, and he adds nine runs and eight RBI to the fold. Reid Russell's batting average has climbed to .339 on the season and is one of three players with 10 or more runs and RBI.
 
Jacoby Middleton has 10 runs and a team-leading 13 RBI and Jake Nash has 10 runs and 12 runs knocked in. Stijn van der Meer and Cutter McDowell join Arredondo with nine runs. LU has a .273 batting average and scores at a 5.2 runs per game clip.
 
Tickets to the contest or any other home game can be purchased at LamarCardinals.com or fans can visit or call the athletics ticket office in the Montagne Center at 409-880-1715. Five-Point Credit Union will be sponsoring a t-shirt giveaway, while supplies last.  Gates will open at 5 p.m.
 
Central Arkansas and New Orleans will wrap of the remainder of the home stand in two crucial series in league action. UCA will pay its first visit to LU since 2010 on Friday for a weekend set, and UNO will be in town one week later.