LAS CRUCES, NEW MEXICO – The University of the Incarnate Word baseball team dropped a 12-inning game, 8-7 against New Mexico State on Saturday.

After three scoreless extra innings, the Aggies finally pushed the winning run across the plate for a walk-off win, their first win of the season. Aaron Duran got on first base with one out on a hit by pitch, advanced to second on a single by Daniel Johnson, and later scored the winning run on a Michael Paulson single to right field.

The Cardinals (5-7) found themselves down 5-4 in the eighth inning, but took the lead 7-5 with RBI singles from Blake Woosley (Corvallis, OR/Philomath HS), Matt Morris (Scottsdale, AZ/Saguaro HS) and Jesse Hoover (Marion/Marion HS).

The Aggies (1-9) responded in the bottom half of the inning with a 2-run single from Brent Hermanussen that tied the game at 7-7 and would send it to extra frames.

Johnson led the Aggies with four hits and two runs.  Derek Umphres collected four RBI for the game, including a three-run homerun in the bottom of the third inning. Billy Conard got the win for New Mexico State going six innings in relief of Matt Loeffler.  He surrendered seven hits, three runs and three walks while striking out seven.

The Cardinals pitching staff took a hit in the extra-inning loss.  UIW used nine pitchers and Austin Hoffman (Goodyear, AZ/Millenium HS) got tagged with the loss. John Shull (San Antonio/Churchill HS), Tyler Miller (Conroe/Oak Ridge HS) and Adam Hunter (Yoakum/Yoakum HS) combined for 6.1 scoreless innings of relief.

Hoover collected three hits, a run and an RBI.  Woosley had two hits, two RBI and a run scored while Morris, Hoffman and Ethan McGill (Penn Valley, CA/Nevada Union HS) all had two hits and an RBI apiece.

The Cardinals totaled 13 hits, seven runs and committed three errors and the Aggies finished with 13 hits, eight runs and four errors.

The Cardinals and Aggies will face off in the rubber game of the series on Sunday at 2:05 p.m.
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