SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – Senior catcher Zac Russell's (San Antonio/Smithson Valley HS) two-out, bases loaded double in the bottom of the eighth inning gave the University of the Incarnate Word baseball team a 6-3 win and series sweep of visiting Florida Southern College on Sunday at Sullivan Field. (Box Score)

The Cardinals (5-1) took an early 1-0 lead after Slade Brown (Keller/Keller HS) tripled home John Zule (San Antonio/Stevens HS) in the bottom of the first inning.  The Mocs (0-7) claimed the lead in the top of the second inning when they scored three times with two outs.  J.J. Downum and Conor Szczerba each had RBI singles in the rally.

The score remained 3-1 Moccasins with neither team doing much on offense through the middle innings.    The Cardinals loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh inning with one out against FSC starting pitcher Clay Chapman, but Chapman induced a double play to end the inning and retain the lead.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Cardinals finally got to Chapman.  He loaded the bases by walking two batters and hitting another and then Adam Pena (Mission/Sharyland HS) came through with a run-scoring single sending Chapman to the showers.  UIW tied the game on the next batter when Jordan Littlefield (Marion/Marion HS) was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.  After two outs, Russell came to the plate and cleared the bases with double on a 1-2 count.

In the ninth inning, the Mocs took advantage of an error by the Cardinals to pull to within two runs, but Jesus Berduzco (Sacramento, CA/Foothill HS) retired the final two batters of the game to preserve the win.  He picked up the victory after tossing 4.0 innings without allowing a hit.  Alex Shaffer (Seattle, WA/Nathan Hale HS) was handed a no-decision after starting the game and pitching 5.0 innings.  He allowed seven hits, three runs and two walks while striking out four.

Chapman was tagged with a loss after allowing six hits, five runs and five walks while striking out five in 7.0 innings.

The Cardinals are back in action on Friday at 6 p.m. against Colorado Christian at home.
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