Thursday night was the place to be if you're a fan of collegiate baseball as the University of the Incarnate Word faced off against St. Mary's University at V.J. Keefe Stadium in the final game of the first day of the 2011 South Central Regional Championships for NCAA Division II.
The Rattlers were the No. 1 seed in the regional tournament and the Cardinals were the No. 6 seed and after shaky starts from both pitchers… nine inning just wasn't enough as STMU came back to win, 6-5, in a contest that went 12 innings.
“Should we have lost this game? Absolutely not,” Cardinals coach Danny Heep said. “We got guys into scoring positions or on the corners, but then we'd hit a line into a double play and then, in the end, it's a dribbler that beats us. But that's just the way this game is.”
The Cardinals (35-17) out-hit St. Mary's (46-8) 18 to 10, but couldn't get runners home after the fourth inning. They took an early lead, 1-0, in the first but STMU responded with a 3-run first to take the 3-1 lead. But, UIW's Kirk Jewasko – after the shaky start - was able to slow down the St. Mary's bats long enough for UIW's hitters to finally figure out STMU's Matt Holland.
In the third inning, Incarnate Word scored a run Mike De La Rosa singled and advanced to third thanks to a single by Ryan Flowers. Then, Josiah Rodriguez hit a double to left-center to score De La Rosa.
But, in the fourth inning, the Cardinals added three runs to retake the lead, 5-3. Things got started when Matt Roohan hit a double that scored Derrick Walls (who led off with a single) and advanced Steven Vidaurri (also on with a single) to third base. St. Mary's then removed Holland an inserted Skye Severns to pitch, but his first batter – De La Rosa – cracked a triple down the leftfield line that scored Vidaurri and Roohan and put the Cardinals up 5-3.
But, Incarnate Word continued to be unable score and eventually went scoreless the rest of the way. In all, UIW stranded 20 runners on base – 13 of which were in scoring position.
St. Mary's, however, made things interesting in the 7th inning after loading the bases with two outs. A single narrowly avoided the runner at first and the man at third scored – but Walls hurled a missile to the plate where Daniel Qualls made the tag on a diving Rattler to preserve the lead at 5-4.
STMU threatened again in the bottom of the 8th inning as UIW closer Elroy Urbina (Incarnate Word single-season saves leader with 13) walked the first two batters he saw, but then knuckled down and got a pop-out, a strikeout and a groundout to end the immediate threat and preserve the 5-4 lead.
But, it all came to an end when another play at the plate was just a fraction of a second too slow and the Rattlers tied the score at 5-5 and forced extra innings. In the 12th, a leadoff walk got the man who eventually beat out another tag near home for the 6-5 win.
Vidaurri finished 4-for-6 while De La Rosa was 4-for-7 with 3 RBI.
Now, Incarnate Word has to play against Tarleton State at noon on Friday. UIW and Tarleton faced off in the Lone Star Conference Championships last week and Incarnate Word eliminated the Texans, 12-2. The loser of Friday's contest sees their season come to an end.
