SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – Matt Morris' (Scottsdale/Saguaro HS) four-hit night and Brandon Anderson's (Cheyenne, WY/Cheyenne Central HS) eight solid innings of work led the University of the Incarnate Word baseball team  to a 7-3 win over Villanova at the Irish Alamo Invitational Saturday night at Wolff Stadium.

The win assures the Cardinals (4-3) of playing the tournament's championship game at Wolff Stadium on Sunday at 10:30 a.m. against Notre Dame. Their previous meeting on Friday night resulted in a 14-1 win for the Fighting Irish.

In Saturday's ballgame, UIW scored two runs in the top of the first inning and never looked back. Villanova (1-4) answered right away in the bottom of the first with a run, but the Anderson would hold the Wildcats scoreless until the bottom of the eighth inning. Anderson got the win for the Cardinals with eight innings of work, giving up three runs, eight hits and no walks while striking out three.

The Cardinals put the game out of reach in the middle three innings by scoring five times.  Mark Whitehead (San Antonio/Johnson HS) had a two-out RBI single in the fourth, Will Triebes (Pflugerville/Henderickson HS) had a two-out run-scoring double in the fifth and Austin Hoffman (Goodyear, AZ/Millenium HS) had a two-out RBI single in the sixth inning

Offensively, Morris led the team with four hits, including a double, a run and an RBI. After tonight, Morris is hitting .500 in the season.  Hoffman went 2-for-2 with a walk, two RBI and a run scored.  Blake Woosley (Corvallis, OR/Philomath HS) got a single, a double and scored two runs for UIW.

The Wildcats' first four hitters combined to go 8-for-16, while the rest of the lineup finished 0-for-18 on the night.  Villanova used six pitchers in the loss and Ryan Doty got tabbed with the loss.  Doty went 4.2 innings giving up five runs (three earned), seven hits and two walks while striking out four.

Chris Jones (Hallettsville/Hallettsville HS) and Hoffman combined to throw a perfect ninth inning to close out the win.
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