Box Score SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – Strong pitching and clutch hitting provided the University of the Incarnate Word baseball team a 6-2 win over Southland Conference rival Nicholls State on Thursday at Sullivan Field.

The Cardinals (12-22, 5-5) and Colonels (19-20, 10-6) played through a light rain for the majority of the game.  UIW played the conditions well with just one error and no unearned runs while Nicholls committed three errors that led to five unearned runs.  Nicholls entered the game tied for first place in the conference.

We finally scored some runs for Geno (Encina) today," said UIW head coach Dan Heep.  "He has kept us in just about every game and you just can't ask any more than what he has done." 
Encina (San Antonio/Brandeis HS) earned his fifth win of the season and tossed a complete game.  He scattered five hits and a walk while allowing two runs.  He struck out seven.  It was the sixth time in his last seven starts that he has gone at least 7.0 innings without allowing more than three runs.

"I see us playing better and understanding what our competition is in Division I," said Heep.  "We are starting to do the little things that lead to wins.  As bad as the field conditions were today, we committed were very few errors."

It was the Colonels who jumped out to the early lead in the game.  Charles Morton led off the second inning with a double and came around to score on David Zorn's sacrifice fly.

The Cardinals tied the game in the bottom of the third inning on Mark Whitehead's (San Antonio/Johnson HS) two-out triple that scored Bryce Shepherd (Coldspring/Coldspring-Oakhurst HS) who had reached via error.

Nicholls reclaimed the lead in the fifth inning.  Zorn led off with a single and then stole second base.  A pair of ground outs brought him in with the go-ahead run.  UIW responded in the sixth inning when Jason Stone (Georgetown/Georgetown HS) drove in Slade Brown (Keller/Keller HS) on a single that hit third base and bounced over the third baseman's head.

In the seventh inning, the Cardinals loaded the bases with no outs.  Nicholls pitcher John Satriano was able to get a force play at home and then Brown's hard line drive was caught by the shortstop.  Jesse Hoover (Marion/Marion HS) stepped in to the batter's box and launched the first pitch he saw over the right field wall for a grand slam.  It was Hoover's second home run of the season and the team's second of the year.

Encina made the runs stand up as he retired eight of the final nine batters he faced.  The Cardinals finished with eight hits.  Brown, Colton Besett (Cedar Park/Vista Ridge HS) and Stone each had two hits.

Satriano took the loss for the Colonels.  Ryan Deemes pitched well in his start going 5.0 innings while allowing four hits, one walk and one unearned run while striking out five.

The two teams will play the second game of the series on Friday at 3 p.m.
####
pr14247smm