BEAUMONT, Texas - For the second straight game, Northwestern State failed to capitalize on scoring opportunities while Lamar’s starting pitching came up strong as the Cardinals defeated the Demons 6-1 in Southland Conference baseball action Saturday afternoon.

The Demons will try to salvage one game out of the series on Sunday when senior right-handed pitcher Ben Rodriguez will take the mound in the 1 o’clock start.

The loss dropped the Demons to 17-21 overall and 10-11 in the conference.  Lamar improved to 27-17 on the season and 13-10 in league play.

One day after Lamar freshman starter Eric Harrington tossed a complete game shutout over the Demons, Matison Smith threw 7-1/3 innings and gave up just one run on eight hits while he improved his record to 6-3 on the year.

NSU gave up two quick runs to the Cardinals in the first inning but cut the lead to 2-1 on a RBI double by Justin O’Neal.

The Demons had a chance to score in the second when Joe Urtuzuastegui led off the inning with a double followed by a walk by Tyler Baisley.

Lance Lacoste followed with a groundout to move Urtuzuastegui to third and Garret Vaughn struck out followed by a groundout by Dominic Gamboa to end the inning as the Demons came up empty handed.

NSU had scoring opportunities in each the fifth, seventh and eighth innings, but came up empty.

Demon starting pitcher Ryan Zimmerman (0-3) took the loss after he gave up five runs on nine hits in six innings.

Urtuzuastegui and Trent Grondin led the Demons’ eight-hit attack with two hits each.

Lamar finished with 10 hits in the game as left fielder Tyler Link finished the day 3-for-4 with two runs scored.

Leading 2-1 in the sixth, Lamar scored two runs in the bottom of the inning on a Demon balk and a fielder’s choice to go up 4-1.

In the seventh, Link scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-1 and in the eighth, Kevin Roebuck scored on the front end of a double steal to put the Cardinals up 6-1.