Time to put yesterday's disappointment in the rear view mirror, and start a new winning streak. Losing a mid-week road game to UH is not the end of the world-- and we lost very little ground in RPI, ISR or SoS. However, we cannot afford to let the loss linger or fall victim to a #233 ranked RPI Lamar squad at home.

The starting pitchers will be Kevin McCanna vs. LHP David Carver (3 app, 2 starts, 6.1 IP, 2.84 ERA, .190 BAA, 6 BBs, 3 Ks), but Lamar is know to going with "All Staff" during mid-week games, changing pitchers every 2 innings regardless to how well they may be pitching. Carver may be a left-hander, but he has been extremely wild so far this year. Our guys need to be patient against him, and let him issue free passes. Let's not help him out.

Lamar comes in with an overall 14-11 record (2-3 on road, 2-6 vs. Top 100, #173 ISR, #233 RPI, #271 SoS), but despite their weak schedule they have played quality team well during mid-week road games-- beating the Coogs 4-2 last week and playing Baylor very close (losing 2-3) earlier this year. Here's their schedule and results to date...
http://warrennolan.com/baseball/2014/schedule/Lamar

Their across the board stats are actually quite solid, but obviously somewhat inflated given the level of competition. Offensively, their hitting .284/.387/.350, with 4 HRs, 42 doubles/triples, 22 -33 stolen bases and averaging a very respectable 5.4 runs per game. They're a small ball team, but with aggressive free-swingers who strikeout a lot. McCanna needs to pound the strikezone and trust his defense.

On the mound, the Cardinals' staff has posted a 3.27 ERA, .260 BAA, 1.75 K:BB ratio and are averaging 6.2 strikeouts per game. Here are their individual and team stats...
http://www.lamarcardinals.com/sports/m-b...mcume.html

And here's the Lamar game notes...
http://www.lamarcardinals.com/sports/m-b...14aab.html

Let's bounce back in a big way, and regain our swagger heading into our road series against Middle Tennessee. Go Owls!