One series. Three games.
The weight of the three-game, Lone Star Conference series against Southeastern Oklahoma State University (ranked 4th in the South Central Region of NCAA's Division II) was not lost on the Incarnate Word baseball team. On the contrary – they played some of their best baseball of the entire season by totally dominating the Savage Storm at Sullivan Field on Friday.
In game one, UIW bested Southeastern by a score of 22-2. In game two, the Cardinals run-ruled the fourth-ranked visitors by a score of 18-0 in seven innings.
To say everything came together into one perfect storm is a very accurate way of describing the doubleheader that puts the No. 6-ranked Cardinals alone in first place in the Lone Star Conference with a 24-8 conference record (33-13 overall). UIW out-hit SOSU 31-to-7 and the Incarnate Word pitching staff was just as unyielding in the 14 combined innings of work.
Game one starter Kirk Jewasko won his 11th game of the season (11-1 overall) and struck out 11 of the 28 batters he faced. He had a perfect game going until the fourth inning (no walks, not hits, no runs and no walks) until a solo home run ended his bid for perfection. He now has a team- and conference-leading 94 strikeouts and leads the LSC in wins.
The Cardinal took an early 4-0 lead in the first inning and never looked back, as the Savage Storm never got close the rest of the game. The scoring started with a single by John Zule out into left field. Steven viduarri followed with another single, putting Zule on second base. Batting this in the lineup for UIW, Matt Roohan connected on a single of his own that scored Zule (1-0) and Vidaurri as far as third base. And, with runners on the corners, third baseman Mike De La Rosa cracked his team-leading ninth homer over the left wall, clear into the woods next to the grass soccer fields directly behind Sullivan Field.
From there, Jewasko and UIW cruised to the 22-2 victory, getting additional homers by Daniel Qualls and Zule (Zule's shot was a grand slam).
In game two, Incarnate Word quickly got right back to business, scoring nine runs in the first inning to support starting pitcher Jorge Guarneros.
Guarneros pitched the entire game (seven innings) and struck out seven of the 25 batters he faced. He allowed only two hits and while the no-hitter attempt was killed in the fourth inning on a single to left field, he got the complete-game shutout – his first of the season and the only one by a Cardinal this year.
The UIW bats were a little more calm in game two, getting no home runs, but connecting on five doubles (two by Zule and Ryan Flowers; one by Roohan) and two triples (Roohan and Flowers).
With the doubleheader in-hand, UIW can finish no worse than a tie for first place in the Lone Star Conference with Tarleton State, provided Tarleton pulls off the sweep on the road against West Texas A&M. If the Texans sweep WT, and UIW loses Saturday's game, then both schools will finish tied at 24-9 in the conference.
However, Tarleton holds the tiebreaker over Incarnate Word, winning two of three games at home earlier in the season, so TSU would then receive the regular season title and the No. 1 seed in next week's Lone Star Conference Baseball Championship in Abilene.
But, if Incarnate Word goes back out on Saturday and get another victory, UIW will be alone in first place in their first season as a member of the LSC and will be the top seed in the LSC Championships.
Meanwhile, Tarleton's first game against West Texas A&M started at 6 p.m. Friday and the two teams have their doubleheader on Saturday. So, if WT pulls off an upset on Friday or in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader, then the Cardinals will already have the first place locked up.
UIW's season- and home-finale is slated to begin at 1 p.m. Saturday.
