HAMMOND, LOUISIANA – The University of the Incarnate Word baseball team is heading to Southeastern Louisiana University this weekend to start Southland Conference play in a three game series. Weather permitting; they will play a single game on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. and a doubleheader on Sunday starting at 1:00 p.m.
The Cardinals (3-9) are in the middle of an eight-game road trip, and this three-game series will culminate the trip. They lost their two earlier series against Oklahoma State and Texas State last week. Thus far in the season, UIW is hitting .230 and averaging 4.0 runs per game. Their leading hitter has been
Tanner Wall (San Antonio/Johnsons HS) who is 10-for-25 for a .400 batting average.
Ryan Gonzalez (Corpus Christi/Carroll HS) leads the team with 12 hits and is second with seven RBI. He is also tied for the team-lead with eight runs scored.
Christian Divelbiss (Yuba City, AZ/Yuba City HS) has a team-high nine RBI and they all seem to be in clutch situations, like his pinch-hit, game-tying, bases-clearing double against LIU Brooklyn.
The starting rotation for the weekend will include freshmen
Bernie Martinez (Laredo/United HS) and
Tyler Lesley (San Antonio/Brandeis HS) and sophomore
John Shull (San Antonio/Churchill HS). Martinez is 0-1 in three starts and holds a 4.08 ERA in 17.2 innings. In his last game out, Martinez took a one-run gem into the eighth inning but gave up a three-run homer. This will be Lesley's second start of the year. His first start came against Texas State in which he completed 5.0 innings and allowed two earned runs and did not walk a batter. Shull will be making his second start. During a game against Texas Southern, Shull came in relief with the bases loaded in the first innings and ended up going 7.0 scoreless innings and striking out a career-high 12 hitters.
Southeastern Louisiana (7-6) was picked to win the Southland Conference in the pre-season rankings, after winning it last year. They are returning 24 letterwinners, including last year's player of the year, outfielder Jacob Seward. This year Seward is hitting .302 and has scored 10 runs for the Lions. Jameson Fisher leads the team with an impressive .422 average, four home runs and 15 RBI. He is one of six Lions who are hitting over .300. They are averaging 5.6 runs per game, while allowing 4.0 runs per game. The pitching staff is led by Kyle Cedotal who is 1-2 in three starts, but has a 1.93 ERA in 23.1 innings. He has walked six and struck out 29. Opposing batters are hitting .196 against him. Domenick Carlini and Mac Sceroler are the two other probable starters for the weekend series against UIW. Carlini is 1-0 with a 2.41 ERA while Sceroler is 1-2 with a 4.15 ERA. Kade Granier and Gabe Von Rosenberg are the two top bullpen arms; they have yet to allow an earned run in 13.2 combined innings.
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