STILLWATER, Okla. – Behind an early offensive outburst and clutch pitching from Tanner Driskill down the stretch, Lamar University baseball bounced back from a Friday night walk-off with a big 7-6 win over Oklahoma State Saturday afternoon at Reynolds Stadium in non-conference action.
 
Driskill (4-3) entered the game with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning and a runner on second base, after Galen Andrews issued a leadoff walk and recorded a big punch out. Driskill came on and ruined the threat with back-to-back strike outs, the first two of six he had in the contest.
 
The junior finished the game with a win on 4 2/3 innings, and allowed only one run on four hits and walked none. His lone run was in the seventh inning, but Cole Girouard make an incredible catch that kept the inning from escalating. Garrett McCain led off the inning with a single and swiped second base before Garrett Benge drove him in with a single through the right side. With a runner on first, Colin Simpson ripped a deep drive to right field that Girouard caught sprinting into the wall.

From that point, Driskill forced a fielder's choice and Bryndan Arredondo cut down a runner trying to steal second base to end the inning and save the one-run lead. Driskill sat down the side in order in the eighth and stranded a runner at first in the ninth.
 
"We went all in on winning the game with Tanner. He's been our most consistent pitcher this year," said head coach Will Davis. "To only give up one run and hold a slim lead for that long was very impressive."
 
Oklahoma State (24-20) jumped on the board quick with two runs in the first inning to grab a 2-0 lead, on the backs of two-straight, two-out walks. Jon Littell followed the walks with a ripped double into right center field, but it didn't take the Cardinals (28-21) long to respond and grab the lead in the very next frame.
 
Arredondo led off the second with a single into left field and was sent to second on a single from Chad Fleischman in the next at-bat. Chaneng Varela drew a walk to load the bases before Grant DeVore blistered a one-out double to left field that scored two. Varela scored and gave LU a 3-2 lead on Phil Ingram's second of three hits in the game, and the fourth run was scored on a sacrifice fly caught at the wall in central off of Reid Russell's bat.
 
Arredondo's single continued his already career-best reached base streak to 19 games.
 
The Cardinals poured more on with three in the fourth inning, which started one another leadoff single, this one from Vincent Dellocono. Two outs followed him, but Russell was hit by a pitch with two strikes to continue the inning. Robin Adames came through with a single to center field that chased home Dellocono, and Trey Silvers followed with a walk that loaded the bases. Arredondo had the big hit of that inning with a single to left center field that scored Russell and Adames to put the Cardinals up 7-2.
 
"Just like in the last two games, we put together really good at-bat after really good at-bat. Our guys were really stepping up. Guys like Ingram, DeVore and Arredondo," said Davis. "We got some really clutch hits and it got us a lead."
 
Jimmy Johnson started the contest for the Cardinals and fired in 3 1/3 innings, but was pulled after reached his pitch count cap. The senior gave up five runs on six hits and two walks, and struck out three Cowboys. He was pulled in the fourth for Andrews, who took over with runners on second and third with just one out.  Andrews gave up a single a RBI-single to Ryan Cash – his first batter faced – but forced Garrett McCain into a 6-4-3 double play that featured Phil Ingram and Varela.
 
Andrews totaled one scoreless inning with a hit and walk allowed.
 
Lamar chased OSU's starter Joe Leinhard (2-1) out of the game in just the second inning. He gave up four runs on five hits and a walk in 1 1/3 innings of work. C.J. Varela came out and killed the rally inning with a couple of fly outs, one being a sacrifice. Peyton Battenfield came out in the third and gave up the three-run fourth inning. He worked 1 2/3 innings with three total runs on four hits and a walk.
 
The Cowboys ran through eight pitches in the contest, and Jonathan Heasley tallied the most innings with two scoreless. The final five Pokes accounted for 5 1/3 scoreless innings to close the game.
 
Ingram and Arredondo each led the Cardinals with 3-of-5 days. Arredondo had two RBIs and a run and Ingram scored a run – in his first game back in the leadoff spot since the second weekend of the season. Fleischman and DeVore each two-hit games, and Russell, Adames and Dellocono all had one.
 
The outhit the Cowboys 13-11 and only struck out four times.
 
The rubber match is slated to start at 1 p.m. Sunday afternoon. Junior lefty Ryan Johnson will get his is first weekend start of the season, and will be faced by right-handed Bake Battenfield.