BEAUMONT, Texas (Interstat) — Brayden Evans launched a two-run, walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th inning Tuesday night, lifting the Lamar Cardinals to a 5-3 victory over the Tarleton State Texans in a non-conference baseball game decided by dominant pitching and a final, decisive swing.

The game at Vincent-Beck Stadium, a tight contest that saw the lead change hands and featured a combined 12 pitchers, was deadlocked at 3 from the sixth inning onward until Evans’ heroics. With one out in the 10th, pinch-hitter Pregeant singled through the right side. On a 1-1 count, Evans connected on his third homer of the season, a no-doubt drive to right field that scored Pregeant from first and set off a celebration at home plate.

The victory improved Lamar to 15-10 overall, while Tarleton State fell to 16-8.

The most important part of the game was the collective effort of the Lamar bullpen, which followed a stellar start from Gage Burdick with six relievers combining for six innings of one-run ball. After Burdick set the tone with four scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and striking out six, the Cardinals’ relief corps navigated constant traffic to keep the Texans at bay. Hayden Stallings earned the win with 1 2/3 perfect innings of relief, striking out two. Nathan Darden was pivotal in the eighth, entering with the bases loaded and one out and striking out two batters to escape the jam unscathed.

Tarleton State’s pitching was nearly as effective, using seven pitchers who limited Lamar to 10 hits. Starter Matthew McCullough went 2 2/3 innings, allowing one unearned run on no hits. Ethan Jaques and Conner Doucet each provided two scoreless innings of relief, and Ben Bosse added a perfect eighth. The Texans’ defense, however, committed four errors, leading to two unearned Lamar runs.

Lamar struck first in the third inning. Valentine walked, stole second, advanced to third on a flyout and scored on Taylor’s sacrifice fly. Tarleton State answered in the top of the sixth to take the lead. After a walk to Guthmiller, Heinrich doubled him home to tie the game. Following a pitching change, McCloud and Shirey followed with RBI singles, giving the Texans a 3-1 advantage.

The Cardinals responded immediately in the bottom half of the frame, capitalizing on Tarleton State mistakes. Taylor reached on a throwing error by third baseman Smeenk and scored on Tracy’s RBI single. The tying run crossed later in the inning when Rodriguez reached on a fielder’s choice and advanced to second on another error, eventually scoring on a wild pitch to knot the game at 3.

Both teams had chances to break the tie late. Tarleton State loaded the bases with one out in the eighth against Max Hartmann, but Darden entered and struck out Johnson and Guerra to end the threat. Lamar put the potential winning run in scoring position in the eighth and ninth innings but could not convert until Evans’ 10th-inning blast.

The result defied the pregame projection from Interstat’s game simulator, which had forecast an 8-6 Tarleton State win, though Lamar entered as a slight favorite with a 62.1% win probability according to the service’s ELO system.

Lamar opens a three-game home series against Incarnate Word on Friday. Tarleton State returns home to begin a three-game set against Air Force, also on Friday.