The SHSU baseball team earned a conference win this weekend by splitting with Lamar on Saturday in a doubleheader, but fell short on Sunday when the Cardinals bats came alive. Lamar rallied in the ninth to beat Sam Houston 7-2 Sunday after cleanup hitter Micah Hoffpauir drilled a three-run homer. Drew Topham and Mickey Hernandez each hit solo homeruns in the fifth inning to break open the game and give Lamar a 3-1 lead.Bearkat catcher Buck Riva led the team on Sunday going 3-for-4 on the day including a double and a home run. C.J. Wright was 1-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Jason Harrison, Domanick Garcia and Jeremy Locke also added singles.On Saturday, SHSU out-batted Lamar with 18 hits on the day, winning the first game 6-3, and dropping game two 8-7.Riva was 2-for-3 in game one one, while Wright and John Warmke each had doubles. Harrison went 1-for-3 with a home run and three RBIs. In game two, Phillip Weaver was 2-for-5 with three RBIs; Christian Dennie, Aaron Dieudonne, Lou Ferrell, and Garcia all added doubles, and Wright was 2-for-4 with a home run.The hits didnt fall in as well for us today as they did yesterday, Riva told the Huntsville Item after Sundays loss. Our philosophy this week was to go up to the plate swinging. In the past weve been taking third strikes with guys on base, and it looked like this weekend that the hitters went to the plate with a goal in mind, and they were swinging at the ball. Sometimes the hits fall and sometimes they dont. Today was just one of those days, I guess.The team dropped to 1-8 in Southland Conference games and 6-17 on the season while Lamar improved its conference record to 6-3 and 10-9 overall.I think it would take us having all nine cylinders going at the same time, Riva said when asked what it will take for the Bearkats to win an SLC series. In (Saturdays) second game, our hitting was going really well until the sixth or seventh inning. Our pitching kind of fell off, and when the pitching kind of fell off, the hitting kind of followed. When we can get both on the same page, I think well be able to play with anybody, he added.The Bearkats will travel to College Station to play Texas A&M tonight at 7 p.m. before returning to Holleman Field Wednesday for a 2 p.m. matchup with Texas Southern.
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