The Incarnate Word baseball team got out of the losing column on Friday, getting two victories against St. Edward's University in Austin, 5-4 and 5-2.
Friday's wins are the first two games of a three-game series against the Hilltoppers this weekend, with the final game of the non-conference showdown taking place at Sullivan Field at UIW at 1 p.m. Saturday.
The Cardinals (21-12 overall) got wins for both Kirk Jewasko (8-1) and Jorge Guarneros (6-1) while closer Elroy Urbina earned his 6th and 7th saves of the season.
In game one, Incarnate Word fell behind 2-0 in the first inning, but battled back to tie the score in the third inning, scoring two runs after SEU had gotten two outs on the board.
The lead changed and got knotted up again and then St. Edward's took a 4-3 lead in the fifth, but the Cardinals scored two run in the sixth inning – thanks to a 2 RBI double by Brandon Clark with two outs – and then held on in the seventh inning as SEU got players at first and second with only one out, but Urbina came in for Jewasko and got the Hilltopper batter to ground out into a double play for the victory, 5-4.
Game two wasn't as close on the scoreboard, but the Cardinals jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the third inning off a 2-run homer by Steven Vidaurri and then added two more runs in the fifth inning thanks to RBI singles by Mike De La Rosa and Clark.
De La Rosa added a solo home run in the top of the ninth inning to pad the Cardinals lead to 5-2. Urbina pitched the entire ninth inning for the save, getting two strikeouts and a fly out in three batters faced.
Tomorrow's matchup at Sullivan Field will be broadcast LIVE on KUIW Radio.
