OMAHA, NEBRASKA – The University of the Incarnate Word baseball team will close out the 2015 season with a three-game non-conference road series against the University of Nebraska at Omaha on Thursday, Friday and Saturday with every game starting at 2:00 p.m.

The Cardinals (20-31. 11-19 SLC) are coming off a tough series loss to Abilene Christian in which they lost the first two games of the series on walk-off hits and managed to salvage the third game with a wild 9-8 win Saturday.

Geno Encina (San Antonio/Brandeis HS) earned a no-decision last weekend and is still 3-4 on the year despite his miniscule 2.19 ERA on the year. He has stepped up to be the Cardinals' ace with 65.2 innings, 12 walks and 54 strikeouts for the season. The UIW pitching staff has an ERA of 5.54.

The Cardinals scored 20 runs last weekend and they are averaging 4.3 runs per game. Aaron Warren (Schertz/Wagner HS) is riding a 10-game hitting streak and is hitting a team-high .369. During that stretch he is hitting .467. Christian Divelbiss (Yuba City, Ca/Yuba City HS) is hitting .294 with 15 runs and 18 RBI's while Matt Morris leads the team in hits with 54. Austin Hoffman's (Goodyear, AZ/Millenium HS) 31 RBI's lead the team and Colton Besett (Cedar Park/Vista Ridge HS) leads the offense with six homeruns.  As a team, the Cardinals are hitting .253.

The Mavericks (19-30, 12-18 Summit League), just like the Cardinals, are coming off a 2-1 conference series loss. They dropped the series to North Dakota State and they have lost 12 of their last 14 games.  The Maverick offense has two regulars hitting over .300 on the year. Cole Gruber leads the team with a .389 batting average and a .493 on base percentage.  Alex Schultz has a team-high 65 hits and is hitting .313.  He has 11 doubles, three home runs and 23 RBI's. Clayton Taylor has a team-high six home runs and 36 RBI's while hitting .294.  The offense is averaging 5.0 runs per game and hitting .278.

The Omaha pitching staff has a 5.27 ERA and is led by Tyler Fox, who is 4-4 with a 2.98 ERA.  He has struck out 70 batters and walked 33.  Zach Williamsen is behind him with a 4.20 ERA and a 7-7 record.  He has 26 walks and 60 strikeouts on the year.
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