BEAUMONT, Texas – For the second straight game,
David Fry staked the Northwestern State baseball team to a first-inning lead.
This time, a pair of Demons pitchers made the early advantage stand.
Right-handers
Jerry Maddox and
David Hodo combined to hold Lamar to five hits and turned a four-run first into a 7-2 Northwestern State victory Tuesday night at Vincent-Beck Stadium.
"Six strong from Jerry, and we needed it," second-year head coach
Bobby Barbier said. "That bullpen was taxed this past weekend. We needed every bit of it. He pitched great. Jerry's a unique pitcher. He can throw different speeds and has a really good arm. When he has two or three of those pitches working on any given day, it's going to be tough on hitters."
Fry homered for the third straight game, drilling a two-run, first-inning home run for the second straight game, putting the Demons (13-11) ahead 2-0. Unlike Sunday's game against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Northwestern State kept applying first-inning pressure.
The Demons sent nine batters to the plate in the opening inning against Lamar right-hander Jace Campbell (0-4), scoring four runs as
Luke Watson drilled an RBI double and
Caleb Ricca drove in a run with a perfect squeeze bunt.
From there, Maddox (2-2) ran with the lead.
Northwestern State's junior right-hander worked six innings, allowing just two unearned runs to even his record. He equaled his season high with six strikeouts while pitching six full innings for the first time.
Maddox scattered five hits and did not walk a batter, throwing 72 of his 105 pitches for strikes, handcuffing the Cardinals (5-20)l throughout.
Maddox and Hodo, who retired all nine batters he faced to earn his first career save, combined to set down 17 of the final 18 Cardinals batters they saw.
Hodo induced eight groundouts in nine batters, working three spotless innings to earn the save.
"I've just been trying to keep the ball down, throwing a lot of strikes and getting ahead in the count," Hodo said. "Anytime you get ahead in the count, it's easier to pitch."
With Maddox and Hodo quieting Lamar's lineup, there wasn't much pressure on the Demons to add to their early lead, and until the ninth inning, they had not.
Kelsey Richard gave the Demons some insurance in the ninth, collecting his third hit and second RBI, knocking in
Luke Watson with a two-out single off Ryan Erickson. Richard's three hits equaled his career high while Watson scored a career-high three runs for the second time in three games.
"It was just a good team effort," Barbier said. "Other than the one inning where we kicked it around some, we played good defense. We had a lot of chances, a lot of balls on the ground, especially to
Caleb Ricca at short. Kelsey was huge for us with three knocks. It was a good team win, a good job bouncing back from Sunday when we didn't play well."
Along with Richard, Watson (2-for-5, RBI) and
Kwan Adkins (2-for-4) each had multi-hit games for Northwestern State.
The Demons return to action Thursday when they open a three-game Southland Conference series at Central Arkansas. First pitch for Thursday's series opener is set for 4 p.m. in Conway, Arkansas.
Northwestern State 7, Lamar 2
NSU 402 000 001 – 7 10 1
Lamar 002 000 000 – 2 5 1
W –
Jerry Maddox (2-2). L – Jace Campbell (0-4). 2B – NSU,
Luke Watson. 3B – LU, Cole Coker. HR – NSU,
David Fry (5). Highlights: NSU, Fry HR, 2 RBis;
Luke Watson 2-5, 2B, RBI;
Kwan Adkins 2-4;
Kelsey Richard 3-4, 2 RBIs.
Records: Northwestern State 13-11; Lamar 5-10.
