After Friday's error-filled Lone Star Conference matchup against Abilene Christian, the University of the Incarnate Word baseball team needed to rebound with not only cleaner baseball, defensively, but with at least a split of Saturday's doubleheader.

Thanks to error-free play in the field and solid pitching, the Cardinals were able to stop the Wildcats from generating much offense and scored enough runs for 3-1 and 5-1 victories at Sullivan Field.

By winning both games on Saturday, UIW improves to 7-7 overall on the season and 2-1 in LSC play.

In game one, Jorge Guarneros pitched a complete game (7 innings) with 6 hits against, but only 1 run (earned) against with two strikeouts. His complete-game win improved his record to 2-3 on the season.

The offense came via from both small-ball tactics and the long ball.

Incarnate word scored first in the opening inning, with Derrick Walls cracking a double into left field to start things off and then scoring on a two-out, RBI double by Adam Pena for the 1-0 lead. Abilene Christian tied things up in the 4^th inning, but UIW scored two runs in the 6^th to retake the lead.

Hector Flores led off with a solo home run near the left foul pole for the 2-1 lead and then designated hitter John Zule singled and was advanced to second by a sac-bunt by Pena. Zule reached home when Lucas Miller hit a ball awkwardly towards the ACU shortstop that narrowly avoided a high-leaping catch attempt. The ball then bounced into the outfield grass and Zule scored for the 3-1 lead.

Abilene Christian would not be able to get any of their two base runners home in the top of the 7^th and UIW got the victory.

In game two, Marc Gomez also went the distance for the Cardinals, pitching 7 complete innings and allowing just one run (earned) to score while striking out 9 Wildcats.

Again, flawless fielding by the Cardinal defense was key in keeping ACU from generating offense like they had on Friday – but the UIW bats also did a good job of generating runs of ACU's Austin Palmer, getting 9 hits off the left-hander, including three extra-base hits.

The Cardinals scored first, with Jordan Littlefield getting the first of his three hits and the first of his two runs (3-for-3 with 2 runs at the end of the game) by leading off with a single. He advanced to second when Miller also hit a single; advanced to third when Pena drew a walk to load the bases; and he scored when UIW hit into a no-out, ground ball double play where the plays were made at second and first instead of trying to get the force-out at home.

But with ACU tying the game at 1-1 in the top of the third, Incarnate Word took control of the game with back-to-back two-run innings in the 4^th and 5^th, including a lead-off triple by Walls in the 5^th that was followed by a RBI double from Zule.

The Wildcats were only able to get three total runners on base in their final three times to bat.

The four-game, Lone Star Conference series wraps up tomorrow at 1 p.m. (weather permitting) at Sullivan Field with a single, 9-inning game.