BEAUMONT, Texas - Southeast Missouri baseball (0-3) suffered a season-opening sweep for the first time since 2012 Sunday with a 5-2 loss to Lamar University (3-0).
The Redhawks got the bats going a little more in game three of the series but it wasn't enough to take down the Cardinals.
In his first Redhawk start,
Robert Beltran (0-1) was hit for four runs on eight hits in five innings.
Jake Busiek,
Adam Pennington, and
Matthew Wade all saw time out of the pen Sunday.
Fernando Martinez (1-0) earned the victory in his five-inning start for Lamar. Billy Love pitched four scoreless innings in relief en route to his first save.
For the third game in a row, Lamar was the first to touch home in the game. Cutter McDowell led off the second inning with a base hit poked up the middle. McDowell advanced on a groundout by Reid Russell and then again on a wild pitch. Brendan Arredondo singled to center to easily score McDowell and take a 1-0 lead on the Redhawks.
Brian Lees drew a one-out walk to get a runner on for the Redhawks in the top of the third inning.
Branden Boggetto drilled a two-out double to left center to score Lees from first and tie the contest at 1-1.
Garrett Gandolfo singled through the four hole to drive in Boggetto and give the Redhawks their first lead of the season, 2-1.
McDowell led off the fourth inning with a base hit. Russell followed with a two-run homer to put the Cardinals back out in front, 3-2.
A sacrifice fly to center off the bat of Arredondo scored McDowell and extended the lead to 4-2 in the sixth inning.
An RBI double by McDowell off Pennington widened the lead to 5-2 in the eighth inning.
The Redhawks were outhit 11-6 in the contest.
Dan Holst finished going 2-for-3 with a walk in the game. The Redhawks' first four batters in the lineup all tallied a hit each Sunday.
McDowell finished with a perfect 4-for-4 performance with three runs scored and one RBI. Russell and Arredondo each contributed two hits each.
The Redhawks will continue their four-game road swing Monday at Alcorn State. The Redhawks and Braves are slated to begin at 1 p.m. from Lorman, Mississippi.
