Privateers Baseball Drops Series Opener at Lamar

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BEAUMONT, Texas – The University  of New Orleans baseball team (16-6, 4-3 Southland) battled back from an early six-run deficit, but gave up two-run homers in consecutive innings of a 10-7 loss to the Lamar Cardinals (14-7, 5-2) on Thursday at Vincent-Beck Stadium.
 
UNO stormed back from a 6-0 deficit to take a 7-6 lead after the top of the sixth. The Cardinals jumped back in front though when Chaneng Varela hit a two-run homer with one out in the seventh, his first of the season to put Lamar ahead 8-7. The Cardinals got some extra insurance in the form of a Bryndan Arredondo two-run homer in the eighth.
 
"It just goes to show what happens when you put pressure on a defense and take decent at-bats," said Coach Blake Dean. "We were handing at-bats away and we finally locked in and had a few decent ones. These guys came out on their heels and had no energy and we paid for it."
 
Prior to the Arredondo homer, the Privateers looked to reply in their half of the eighth. Chaz Boyer hit a lead-off single and was sacrificed to second by Jay Robinson. A ground out moved Boyer to third with two outs and brought Aaron Palmer to the plate. Palmer hit a screaming liner that was snagged by Lamar first baseman, Jake Nash to end the threat and strand the potential tying run on third.
 
The Cardinals put the pressure on to start the game and ran Shawn Semple's pitch count up early. After loading the bases in the first, Lamar came up empty when the next two batters grounded into a fielder's choice. The second inning told a different tale though as Jacoby Middleton led off with a homer. After the next two batters struck out, Stijn van der Meer was down 0-2 in the count before he singled to left.
 
What followed was five more runs coming across. Jake Nash doubled to drive in van der Meer and Reid Russell followed with an RBI single. Another run scored on a wild pitch and the run outburst was completed for the frame on a two-run single by Robin Adames.
 
The Privateers were held without hit until the fifth, but came up with a big inning in the sixth to take a narrow lead. A single, a walk, and an error loaded the bases to start the inning. Kyle Bracey then smacked a two-run double to open up the scoring. The Cardinals also committed four errors in the frame. The score was tied up on one of those four errors. Dakota Dean then hit an RBI single to give the Privateers a 7-6 lead, their only advantage of the night.
 
Semple threw a season high in pitches (144) and worked 6.2 innings while throwing 90 strikes. Semple walked five and struck out seven in his outing and gave up eight runs on nine hits."Shawn did a decent job of stopping the bleeding and giving us a chance," said Dean. "We didn't take very many good at-bats and we didn't earn those runs. It's hard to win when you give up 10 runs no matter what."
 
Robinson had the only multi-hit night for UNO, going 2-for-2 with an RBI and a run. Preston Marsh drew two walks and had an RBI sac fly in the seven-run sixth. Jarred Taylor threw a third of an inning of relief and Keaton Brewer posted a scoreless frame.
 
Will Hibbs got the win for Lamar and five of his seven runs allowed were unearned. Jimmy Johnson got a two-inning save and Nash, Russell, and Middleton each had two-hit nights.  Arredondo, Adames, and Varela had two RBIs each.
 
The series continues Friday with a first pitch at 6 p.m.
 
Season tickets for the 2016 campaign are available for as low as $125 and single-game tickets start at $5. For additional information, contact the UNO Athletics Ticket Office at (504) 280-GAME (4263) or click HERE.
 
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