SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – The University of the Incarnate Word baseball team welcomes Southland Conference rival Lamar University into town this weekend for a three game series starting on
Friday at 3 p.m. (please note time change) followed by a 3 p.m. game on Saturday and a 1 p.m. game on Sunday at Sullivan Field.
The Cardinals (11-30, 4-14) are coming off a tough loss at Baylor on Wednesday. They made a great comeback from five runs down in the eighth inning, but the Bears were able to win on a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth inning. UIW is hitting .233 with a .311 on-base percentage as a team.
Brance Kahle (Colleyville/Grapevine Faith HS) has been the top hitter on the team with a .272 batting average and 25 runs batted in.
Matt Morris (Tucson, AZ/Saguaro HS) was back in the lineup after missing 32 games with an injury and hit a grand slam against Baylor.
Eddy Gonzalez (Laredo/United HS) is among the league leaders with four triples.
The UIW pitching staff has a 6.74 earned run average and they have struck out 227 batters in 348.2 innings.
Bernie Martinez (Laredo/United HS),
John Shull (San Antonio/Churchill HS) and
Cody Richey (Fair Oaks/Comfort HS) are scheduled to start the three games on the mound.
Lance Moszkowicz (Spring/Klein Collins HS) has been the top relief pitcher on the team. He has a 3.89 ERA and six saves in 41.2 innings.
Lamar (29-10, 14-4) is one of the top teams in the region and they have been projected to earn an at-large bid for an NCAA Regional by both D1Baseball.com and Baseball America. Their head coach is Jim Gilligan who is in his 39
th and final season with the Cardinals. He has won 1,347 games and 10 Southland Conference titles in his career.
Lamar has a potent lineup led by Reid Russell and Stijn van der Meer. Russell is hitting .373 with 13 homers and 45 batted in while van der Meer has a .357 batting average, .460 on-base percentage and a 24-game hitting streak this year. They are averaging 6.4 runs per game.
The pitching rotation for the weekend includes Will Hibbs (8-1, 1.90 ERA), Billy Love (4-2, 2.68 ERA) and Jimmy Johnson (7-1, 3.16 ERA). Johnson also leads the team with five saves and will be making his first start of the year. Enrique Oquendo has been the top arm in the bullpen this year. He has a 1.19 ERA and three saves in 22.2 innings. He has allowed just 12 hits and eight walks while striking out 31.
The games will be live streamed for free online at portal.stretchinternet.com/uiw.
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