Lamar baseball completes series sweep of Columbia

BEAUMONT – After making his debut and first career start last week, it turned out to be another strong weekend for pitcher David Carver as he and the Lamar baseball team shut out visiting Columbia for 6-0 victory at Vincent-Beck Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Carver, who registered his first career save on Saturday, was strong over the game’s first six innings, holding the visitors from the Ivy League to five hits while striking out four. Jerin Spikes, Lance Warren and Ben Coram combined to close out the game, posting the first LU shutout since a 6-0 victory over McNeese State last April.

“I wasn’t really expecting to come in relief on Saturday, and it feels good to get the win today too,” Carver said. “To be honest, I didn’t feel that I had my best stuff today. I felt kind of weak on my fastball, so I relied a lot on my off-speed stuff, and luckily that seemed to work pretty well.”

“It was a great job by Carver today, especially coming back for the second time in a series,” head coach Jim Gilligan said. “I think I could’ve let him go a bit further, but I decided to try and get a few of our relievers into the game. It’s still a big weekend for him. To shut a team out on the fourth game of a series is pretty good. I care more about the win, but it’s always nice to get the shutout.”

Overall, the Cardinals improved to 11-2 on the year and have now won seven consecutive games. Columbia fell to 0-4.

Offensively, Lamar was led by the trio of Darian Johnson, Aaron Olivas and Zach Luevanos, which combined to go 6-for-10 at the plate with four scores.

It was very much a pitcher’s duel at the start until the Cards broke through for a pair of scores in the fifth inning. Olivas led off with a single, and a sacrifice bunt by Luevanos put him on second. Back-to-back singles by Garret Autrey and Sam Bumpers brought Olivas home for the first score, and a Jake Sutton fielder’s choice plated Autrey.

Johnson and V.J. Bunner combined for a pair of doubles to add an insurance run in the sixth and ultimately chase Columbia pitcher Tim Giel from the mound.

Lamar added three more runs in the eighth, culminating with an Olivas two-run single to center and a Luevanos double to left to account for the final score line.

The Cards, who have now won three consecutive series, will prepare for another four-game set next weekend when Massachusetts makes the trip to Beaumont.