CONWAY, Ark _ The #23 Lamar Cardinals staked starting pitcher Eric Harrington to an early 4-1 lead en route to a 9-4 victory in Southland Conference baseball action on Saturday at Bear Stadium.

The loss was the first for the Bears (10-5, 4-1) in SLC play,while the Cardinals improved to 14-4 and 3-2.

The Cardinals pounded out 14 hits against four UCA pitchers, including a home run by senior shortstop Jeremiah Sammy in the second inning. Lamar scored two runs in the second, third, fifth and seventh innings, and added one more insurance run in the eighth.

UCA managed only seven hits off a combination of Harrington, winner James Brandhorst (1-0) and Brian Needham. that trio combined to strike out nine. Second baseman Zack Dickson and first baseman Josh Huffman, the Nos. 1-2 hitters in the UCA lineup, had two hits each, while designated hitter Richey Irvin and left fielder Will Wagner had two RBI apiece.

UCA cut its deficit to 6-4 with a three-run fifth inning. Tye Throneberry reached on an error before back-to-back singles by Dickson and Huffman loaded the bases. Irvin reached on a fielder’s choice that scored Throneberry. Dillon Smith walked to reload the bases before Wagner singled to left field to score two more runs.

Junior reliever Michael Wild came into the game in the sixth with no outs and runners on second and third. He got the first batter to ground out to shortstop, and after allowing an infield single, forced a ground ball to Huffman at first. Huffman threw to Pritchett for the force at second, and the relay came back to Wild at first for the inning-ending double play.

Taylor and Brent Harris both had three hits for the Cardinals, while Steven Tucker and Sammy had three RBI each.

The series concludes with a 1 p.m. game on Sunday.