Playing the first of two back-to-back Lone Star Conference doubleheaders at Sullivan Field, the University of the Incarnate Word split Friday's double-helping of baseball action with a 5-3 loss and a 13-6 victory against Tarleton State University.
The split puts UIW's overall record at 12-13, but keeps them at .500 in the conference with a 7-7 record.
In game one, errors and effective bunting by the Texans gave the visitors a three-run 2nd inning that proved to give TSU enough of a head start to keep the Cardinals' offense from knotting things up.
Freshman Dylan Boss struck out 10 batters and had only two earned runs-against while giving up 9 hits, but the 2nd inning proved to be what dropped his record to 1-3 on the season.
No Incarnate Word batters had more than one hit in the loss… which was the polar opposite of the kind of game that the UIW batters had in game two.
Five Cardinals had multiple hits – led by Derrick Walls's 4-for-6 effort that included two runs scored and 3 RBIs. Adam Pena and Lucas Miller both had three hits in the game, while Hector Flores and Jason Stone both had two hits.
UIW had two different three-run innings and a four-run inning against TSU, and scored at least one run in six of the eight innings in which Incarnate Word got to bat. In all, there were 17 UIW hits and the score could have been worse as the Cardinals left 15 men stranded – including two separate bases-loaded opportunities.
On the mound, Keith Vasquez got the start, but got a No Decision as Jorge Guarneros pitched six complete innings for the win (improving his record to 4-3). He struck out 3 Texans and only had 2 earned runs against.
Saturday's doubleheader is scheduled to start at 1 p.m., starting with a 7-inning game and then the series will end with a 9-inning game. Fans can watch Live Stats and a streaming broadcast for free on cardinalathletics.com.
