SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – The University of the Incarnate Word baseball team will take part in the annual Irish Alamo Invitational hosted by Notre Dame at Wolff Stadium Thursday through Sunday.

The Cardinals' (2-2) first matchup comes against Notre Dame on Thursday at 5:00 p.m., then they play Northwestern University on Friday at 6:00 p.m., and they will finish the round-robin games against Villanova on Saturday at 5:00 p.m.  Depending on the first three results, the Cardinals can either play in the championship at Wolff Stadium on Sunday, or in the consolation game at Sullivan Field, with both games starting at 11 a.m..

UIW lost its season opening series to Northeastern two games to one, but bounced back to rout Prairie View A&M, 14-4 on Tuesday.  Cardinals' shortstop Matt Morris (Scottsdale, AZ/Saguaro HS) started the season on a hot streak. Morris is 6-for-13 in the first four games, with a double, two home runs and three RBI.  Outfielder Austin Hoffman (Goodyear, AZ/Millenium) leads the team with four RBI on three hits. The Cardinals offense is hitting .275 as a team and has scored 24 runs in four games. They have seven walks and 30 strikeouts.

The pitching for the Cardinals has been good besides two or three bad innings. Cody Richey (Comfort/Comfort HS) and Garret Cooper (Round Rock/McNeil HS) both worked seven innings apiece in their first starts of the season.  Richey gave up two runs, six hits, three walks, and struck out six, while Cooper gave up one run on eight hits, no walks and four strikeouts.  The UIW pitching staff holds a 3.75 combined ERA with 25 strikeouts and has only seven walks in 36 innings of work.

The Fighting Irish (3-1) opened the season with a 7-6 win over SIU-Edwardsville and then beat Oklahoma two times out of a three game series. In the four games, Cavan Biggio—son of Hall of Fame Houston Astro, Craig Biggio—leads the team with eight hits in 16 at bats, six runs, three doubles and two triples. Robert Youngdahl has brought in five runs to lead the Irish and Ryan Lidge is 5-for-11 with the only homerun for the team thus far. As a team, Notre Dame has pushed across 23 runs in four games and holds a batting average of .252. Their pitching staff has an ERA of 4.37 and they have issued 17 walks while striking out 20 in 35 innings.

Northwestern (0-3) started the season with three losses in the Surprise College Baseball Classic in Arizona. The losses came to Oregon State, New Mexico and Michigan State. In their 3-2 loss to the Spartans, junior Matt Portland pitched six innings only giving up two hits, three unearned runs and striking out four with no walks. Cody Stevens and Reid Hunter both lead the team with four hits each, while Hunter and Grant Peikert both lead with two runs scored apiece. The Wildcats' offense is hitting .220 and has only scored six runs.  The pitching staff has a 2.22 ERA in 24.1 innings and has given up 11 walks while striking out 20.

Villanova (0-2) was scheduled to play three games in Raleigh, NC, but the cold prevented the third game from happening. The Wildcats suffered a 14-5 loss to North Carolina State and a 5-2 loss to Appalachian State in their opening weekend. In their two games, the Wildcats are hitting .225 while walking nine times and striking out 18. The pitching staff has an 8.44 ERA in 18 innings of work, walking 12 and striking out 13.

Tickets will cost $10 for adults and $5 for Students. Saturday all active and retired Military personnel with an ID card will be FREE all day.

Irish Alamo Invitational Full Schedule
Thursday - February 19th
5:00 pm - UIW vs Notre Dame
Friday - February 20th
11:00 am - Northwestern vs. Villanova
  2:30 pm - Villanova vs. Notre Dame
  6:00 pm - UIW vs. Northwestern
Saturday - February 21st
  1:00 pm - Northwestern vs. Notre Dame
  5:00 pm - Villanova vs. UIW
Sunday - February 22nd
11:00 am - Championship Game at Nelson Wolff Stadium
11:00 am - Third Place Game at Sullivan Field - UIW
 
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