BEAUMONT, Texas – The Northwestern State baseball team put together its first game with double-figure hits in more than two weeks Wednesday night at Lamar.
 
Unfortunately for the Demons, the Cardinals' offense was up to the challenge.
 
Lamar tagged Northwestern State with a seven-run first inning and tallied eight two-out runs in a 12-6 victory against the Demons at Vincent-Beck Stadium.
 
"You get a tough start on the mound, and it's hard to overcome," first-year coach Bobby Barbier said. "We've got to get up tomorrow morning, drive to Corpus (Christi) and go practice and try to get better."
 
Northwestern State (5-14) dropped its sixth straight game despite collecting 10 hits, its first double-digit hit total since March 4.
 
The Demons struck first when David Fry drove a two-run home run off Galen Andrews (2-0) to left-center field in the first inning.
 
NSU had a chance to add on to its lead after Matthew Alford's one-out double put runners on second and third before Andrews wiggled out of the jam without another run scoring.
 
After the Demons failed to extend the lead, the Cardinals (12-10) did not miss their chance in their half of the first inning.
 
Reid Russell and Robin Adames had back-to-back, one-out RBI doubles off Dan Hlad (0-2) to tie the game. Two batters later, Chad Fleischman broke the tie with a two-out RBI double, setting in motion a run of five straight two-out hits that gave the Cardinals a 7-2 lead after an inning.
 
"In the first and again the third, we had runners at third base and less than two outs and couldn't get them in," Barbier said. "Those are the plays you have to make in the game. We let a ball get by us in the first that could have kept it at five. We get those runs in, and we have a lead going into the sixth."
 
The Demons jumped on Lamar reliever Ryan Erickson in the fourth inning with Kwanstan Adkins' leadoff double and Hunter Uzzle's triple starting a three-run inning that cut the Lamar lead to 7-5.
 
However, Adames' two-out, two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth re-established a four-run Cardinals' lead. Adames' homer came after the Demons retired the first two Cardinals hitters.
 
The same pattern held in the fifth inning when Cutter McDowell laced a two-out, two-run double off the center-field wall after the first two Lamar hitters were retired.
 
Fry capped his best offensive day of the season with an RBI single in the sixth inning, giving him a career-best four RBIs. Fry finished 3-for-5 with a double and a home run.
 
McDowell and Adames each had three hits, all of which went for extra bases. McDowell had three doubles while Adames finished with a pair of doubles and a home run. Russell added two doubles as Lamar collected eight doubles against six Demons pitchers.
 
The Demons return to Southland Conference action Friday when they open a three-game series at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. at Chapman Field.
  NSU       200 301 000 – 6 10 0
Lamar    700 220 10x – 12 15 2
W – Galen Andrews (2-0). L – Dan Hlad (0-2). 2B – NSU,  David Fry, Matthew Alford, Kwanstan Adkins. LU, Cutter McDowell 3; Reid Russell 2; Robin Adames 2; Chad Fleischman. 3B – NSU, Regan Kaufman; Hunter Uzzle. HR – NSU, Fry (6). LU, Adames (3). Highlights: NSU, Fry 3-5, 2B, HR, 4 RBIs. LU, McDowell 3-5, 3 2Bs, 4 RBIs; Russell 2-5, 2 2Bs, RBI; Adames 3-5, 2 2Bs, HR, 3 RBIs; Grant Devore 2-4, RBI.
Records: Northwestern State 5-14; Lamar 12-10.