CANYON, TEXAS – The University of the Incarnate Word and West Texas A&M baseball teams split a Lone Star Conference doubleheader on Saturday at Wilder Park.  The Cardinals (26-18, 12-11) won the opener, 10-8 and the Buffalos (26-17, 12-11) took the night cap, 2-1 in 10 innings. (Game 1, Game 2)

In the first game, the Cardinals scored first on a two-run homer by Jordan Scelfo (Tucson, AZ/Salpointe HS) in the second inning.  They tacked on another run in the inning when Derrick Walls (San Antonio/Reagan HS) drove in Jason Stone (Georgetown/Georgetown HS) with a two-out single.

The Buffalos answered in the bottom of the second inning with three runs of their own.  The first three batters reached base in the inning and they scored unearned run thanks to a passed ball to tie the score.

UIW exploded for six runs in the third inning.  The inning was highlighted by three consecutive two outs hits.  Stone cracked a two-run single and was followed by Hestand Foster's RBI double and Walls' two-run homer to make it 9-3.

The Buffs battled back with two runs in the fourth inning by taking advantage of a strike three wild pitch.  In the fifth inning, David Hebert hit a two-run home run and they scored three times to make it 9-8 Cardinals.

Fortunately for UIW, Geno Encina (San Antonio/Brandeis HS) closed out the game with 2.0 shutout innings of relief while allowing just one hit to earn the save.  Alexis Garza (McAllen/McAllen HS) had his worst outing of the year, but still managed to improve to 6-0 on the season. 

The Cardinals tacked on an insurance run in the sixth inning on Scelfo's second home run of the game, a solo shot.  UIW finished with 12 hits and were led by Walls and Stone who each had three hits.  Walls finished the game 3-for-5 with three RBI's and a home run while Stone was 3-for-4 with two runs, two RBI's and a double.  Scelfo, Foster and Jordan Littlefield (Marian/Marian HS) each had two hits.

Paul Pulley took the loss for the Buffs after lasting just 2.0 innings and allowing five runs.  They also had 12 hits in the game.  Justin Henderson finished 3-for-4 with a run scored while Hebert was 2-for-4 with two runs, three RBI's and a home run.

The second game was a pitcher's duel as Dylan Boss (Boerne/Boerne HS) of the Cardinals matched up with Ryan Houston of the Buffalos.  UIW scraped across a run in the top of the third inning when Foster led off with a double and came around to score Thomas Rinn's (Cameron/Yoe HS) ground out.  WT tied the game in the fourth inning when Beto Rodriguez walked with the bases loaded.

Boss and Houston would match zero's across the board through the full seven innings and then into extra innings.  Each pitcher last through the eighth inning and then Houston was relieved by Scott Cone to start the ninth inning.  The Cardinals put runners in scoring position in the eighth, ninth and 10^th frames, but could not get the clutch hit to score one.

Boss remained strong in the extra frames facing only three batters in the eighth and ninth innings.  He came out again in the 10^th inning and struck out the first batter and then walked the second batter of the inning.  Tyler McKnight followed with a double to put runners on second and third.  The Cardinals elected to intentionally walk Hebert to set up a force play.  The game ended with the next batter when Boss walked Matt Redfearn on a 3-2 count to force in the winning run.

Boss took the loss despite pitching 9.1 innings.  He allowed five hits, six walks and two runs while striking out seven.  Houston had a no-decision after allowing five hits, one run and two walks in 8.0 innings.  He struck out six in the game.  Cone nabbed the victory after tossing 2.0 shutout innings of relief.

The two teams will play again on Sunday in the series finale at 1 p.m.
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