OMAHA, NEBRASKA – John Shull (San Antonio/Churchill) pitched 4.2 innings in relief and earned the win, as the University of the Incarnate Word baseball team recovered from a 6-2 early deficit to defeat Omaha, 11-9 in the first game of a non-conference three-game series on Thursday at Ballpark at Boys Town.

The Cardinals (21-31) took an early 2-0 lead with RBI's from Austin Hoffman (Goodyear, AZ/Millenium HS) and Ethan McGill (Penn Valley, CA/Nevada Union HS) in the first inning, but the Mavericks tied the game after just two batters when Cole Gruber hit a two-run homer to spark a four-run first inning.  Omaha added two more in the second inning to take the 6-2 lead.

Shull came in and quieted the Maverick bats keeping them scoreless until a two-run home run in the sixth inning. He allowed six hits in 4.2 innings, two earned runs, one walk and one strikeout.
The UIW offense helped Shull out with a five-run third inning.  Hoffman hit a two-run double down the left field line and McGill followed with a single to bring in Hoffman. A Jesse Hoover (Marion/Marion HS) sac fly and an RBI single from Mark Whitehead (San Antonio/Johnson HS) concluded the big inning.

UIW took an 8-6 lead after an RBI double by Brance Kahle (Colleyville/Grapevine Faith HS) in the fourth inning.  The Mavs tied the game in the bottom of the sixth inning on a two-run homer by Clayton Taylor.  The Cardinals went back on top in the seventh inning when Whitehead smacked a two-run homer, the first of his career.  Omaha scored an unearned run in the bottom of the seventh, but that would be all they would get.

UIW head coach Danny Heep went to Cody Richey (Comfort/Comfort HS) for a six-out save.  Richey was up for the job as he retired all six batters he faced to earn his second save of the season.

The Cardinals collected 15 hits in the game.  Whitehead went 2-for-4 with three runs, three RBI's and that home run.  Aaron Warren (Schertz/Wagner HS) extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a pair of hits.  He scored two runs, including an insurance run in the ninth and stole two bases.  Hoffman had three hits, three RBI's and a run scored, McGill had two hits, two RBI's and two runs and Kahle finished with a four-hit day at the plate, including a run scored and a run driven in.  Kahle is hitting .448 in the month of May and has raised his season average 36 points up since April 26.

For the Mavericks (19-31), Gruber and Taylor led the offense as both finished with a 2-for-4 game, two RBI's and a home run each. The top four batters in their lineup combined for eight runs while the rest scored only one run.  Omaha used six pitchers and Brett Sasse got tabbed with the loss.

The two teams will continue the series with game two tomorrow at 2:00 p.m.
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