The Incarnate Word baseball team got two non-conference win on Tuesday, edging out Texas A&M International University with 2-1 and 6-5 victories in Laredo to keep the Cardinals' winning streak going.
In game one, UIW and TAMIU battled through three scoreless innings until both teams brought a run home in the 4th. But in the fifth inning, Incarnate Word scored again, as Jackson Woodruff lead off with a single and was moved on to second back a sac-bunt by Matt Flores. From there, Brett Bippert was put on second to pinch-run for Woodruff. Two walks later, the bases were loaded and John Zule hit a ball to deep right field for the sacrifice fly and the 2-1 lead.
UIW held off International for nine more outs, with Colin Carmody and Elroy Urbina taking over after starter Keith Vaquez pitched four complete innings. In the end, the score went unchanged and Vasquez got a victory (5-2 on the season) and Urbina recorded his 8th save of the year.
In game two, Incarnate Word got on the board quickly, scoring twice in the first inning and pushing things out to a 3-0 lead by the fourth inning. But, TAMIU fought back and knotted things up by the end of the fifth inning, scoring one run in the fourth and four runs in the fifth.
The score was still tied, 5-5, in the top of the seventh and final inning. Incarnate Word's Matt Roohan started off the inning by hitting a double to left-center and then advanced to third thanks to a sac-bunt by Mike De La Rosa. Roohan would reach home on a RBI single by Ryan Flowers, which would turn out to be the game-winning play.
Up 6-5, Urbina returned to the mound for the save opportunity and cashed in, striking out the first Dustdevil he saw and then forcing a fly-out and a ground-out, giving Urbina his 9th save of the season (the UIW career and season records are both held by Alfredo Caballero, who earned 10 last season).
The Cardinals' record is now at 24-12 overall. On Friday, UIW will play host to Texas A&M-Kingsville for a three-game Lone Star Conference series in San Antonio. Friday will be a 6 p.m., nine-inning game and Saturday will be a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.
UIW is 16-8 in the Lone Star Conference and tied for fourth place with Cameron University. Kingsville is 15-12 in the LSC and 19-16 overall.
