Feb. 24, 2006

BEAUMONT - Senior William Delage handcuffed the Spartans for seven innings as Lamar snapped its three-game losing streak with an 8-1 win over Michigan State in game two of the Cardinal Classic Friday night at Vincent-Beck Stadium. Arkansas State defeated Kentucky in Friday's first game, 7-3.

Lamar improved to 5-5 overall and MSU is 0-1 after dropping its season-debut. The Cardinals are scheduled play Kentucky at 1 p.m. and Michigan State again at 4 p.m. today. The rest of today's schedule is Arkansas State against MSU at 10 a.m. and Kentucky and ASU at 7 p.m.

Lamar started the scoring with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second inning. C.J. Ebarb stated the inning with a double to right center field. Jo Jo Haney reached on a bunt single to put runners on the corners. Colt Crawford followed with a double down the left field line to drive in Ebarb.

Will Henderson's solo home run deep over the wall in right center field extended the Cardinals' lead to 3-0. It was Henderson's second home run of the season.

Delage (2-1) pitched seven strong innings, allowing one run on two hits with a season-high 11 strikeouts and three walks. The senior left-hander had to work out of several jams. After the Spartans loaded the bases with one out in the sixth inning, Delage struck out Ryan Basham and Sean Walker to end the inning.

MSU finally got to Delage in the top of the seventh inning. Kyle Day struck out but reached on a wild pitch. Alan Cattrysse, who was 2-for-3, doubled down the left line to drive in Day with the Spartans' only run of the game.

Lamar broke the game open with five runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. Henderson led off the inning an infield single. Ebarb followed with a double to straight away center field to put runners on second and third. Haney drove in Henderson with a single to center.

Crawford walked to load the bases. Cory Zimmerman drove in Henderson with a sacrifice fly to left field. Barbre singled to center to re-load the bases. Lambeth cleared the bases with a 3-run triple to center field to make the score 8-1.

Lambeth went 2-for-4 with four RBI to pace the Cardinals. Ebarb was 3-for-4 with two runs scored. Henderson was 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Collin Delome went 0-for-5, which snapped his career-long 17-game hitting streak.

MSU starter John Dwan (0-1) took the loss, allowing three runs on eight hits with four strikeouts and two walks in five innings pitched.

Game 1 - Arkansas State 7, Kentucky 3

BEAUMONT - Arkansas State used a 12-hit attack to post a 7-3 win over Kentucky in Friday's first game of the 2006 Cardinal Classic at Vincent-Beck Stadium.

Kentucky (3-1) started the scoring with a run in the bottom of the first inning. Antone DeJesus walked to lead off the inning and stole second. Brian Hastings doubled to right center to drive in DeJesus with the game's first run.

ASU (5-1) tied the game with a run in the top of the fourth inning. Kevin Kull was hit by a pitch, advanced to second on a wild pitch and moved to third on a single by Josh Yates. Tyler Doke drove in Kull with a sacrifice fly to right field.

The Wildcats struck for a run in the fifth inning. Ryan Wilkes singled and moved to third on Justin Scutchfield's double to left center. Wilkes scored on a bunt single by DeJesus to put Kentucky up 2-1.

The Indians pushed three runs across in the top of the seventh inning to take a 4-2 lead. Todd Boucher walked and Drew Rogers singled to left field. Michael Williams doubled down the left field line to drive in Boucher. Brett Kinning drove in Rogers with a sacrifice fly to right field. Hudson Smart singled up the middle to drive in Williams.

Kentucky pulled to within a run on a solo home run by Collin Cowgill to lead off the bottom of the eighth inning. ASU put the game out of reach with three runs in the top of the ninth inning on Williams' 3-run home run to left center field to put the Indians up 7-3.

Williams went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and four runs batted in for ASU. Smart was 2-for-5 with an RBI and Rogers was 3-for-4 with two runs scored.

Joel Boeschen (1-0) picked up the win for ASU, allowing three runs on six hits with 10 strikeouts in seven innings pitched. Aaron Tennyson (1-1) took the loss for UK, allowing four runs on eight hits with two strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings pitched.