The University of Incarnate Word baseball team hosted Eastern New Mexico on Friday in a Lone Star Conference doubleheader at Sullivan Field, winning both games.
However, while game one was won with very little doubt, 10-2, game two had a lot more late-game drama and tension than Incarnate Word would have liked, 13-11.
Game two started out simply for Incarnate Word (12-5 overall, 11-3 Lone Star) as Jorge Guarneros shut out the Greyhounds for the first two innings and the Cardinal bats hammered out five runs in the bottom of the second – highlighted by a 2 RBI single by Josiah Rodriguez, an RBI double by Hector Flores and a 2-run homer by Steven Vidaurri.
UIW added three runs in the third (Mike De La Rosa hit a home run to dead-center field) and five more runs in the fifth and were up 13-3 going into the sixth inning.
It was then that Eastern New Mexico began chipping away at the lead, scoring two runs, then 4 runs and then 2 more unanswered runs to make the score 13-11 in the eighth inning and with runners on the bases for the Greyhounds.
Elroy Urbina came out of the bullpen with two outs and a man on second base and got the batter to strike out swinging to end the threat. He stayed on the mound in the ninth inning and didn't let an error faze him – getting the three outs needed for the save and securing the 13-11 victory.
It was Urbina's second save of the season. Guarneros struck out 6 and walked only 2 to get his record to 4-0 on the year.
In game one, Kirk Jewasko struck out nine and walked only one en route to his fifth win of the season (5-0) and the Cardinals' bats had 13 hits, including a triple by Derrick Walls (3-for-3 with 3 RBI) and home runs by Matt Roohan (1-for-3 with 1 RBI) and Daniel Qualls (1-for-4 with 1 RBI).
The Greyhounds took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, but UIW chipped away at the lead in the first inning with an RBI single by Vidaurri to score Walls, 2-1. After Jewasko blanked ENMU in the top of the second, the Cardinals unloaded four runs in the second inning to take the lead and never look back.
The run started with Qualls leading off with his home run (his first of the season) and then Matt Flores earned a walk and Flores singled to center field to move Matt Flores to third. Then, Walls connected on his triple and tried to take advantage of the ball bouncing far from the outfielders in center and tried to get an inside-the-park homer, but was thrown out at home. The score was 4-2 at that point and then John Zule singled, stole a base and then advanced all the way home on errors, 5-2.
UIW never looked back after that.
The Cardinals host ENMU in the final game of the LSC series tomorrow at 1 p.m.
