SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS –
Cody Richey (Fair Oaks/Comfort HS) and
Lance Moszkowicz (Spring/Klein Collins HS) combined to slow down the hard-hitting Lamar University offense and the University of the Incarnate Word baseball team picked up a tough 3-2 victory on Sunday at Sullivan Field.
Richey collected his second win of the season as he kept a Lamar offense that averages over six runs per game, to two runs in six innings while walking one and striking out a season-high eight batters. Moszkowicz picked up his seventh save of the season with a wonderful performance. He allowed two hits with no walks and struck out one in three innings of work.
Lamar (31-11, 16-5 SLC) took an early lead in the first inning with two runs, but the Cardinal pitching staff took care of the rest. UIW (12-32, 5-16 SLC) tied it in the second inning.
Christian Divelbiss (Yuba City, Ca/Yuba City HS) drove in
Matt Morris (Scottsdale, AZ/Saguaro HS) with a sacrifice fly and
Eddy Gonzalez (Laredo/United HS) tied the game with a single that brought in
Weston Pitts (Highland Village/Flower Mound Marcus HS).
With the game tied 2-2 into the sixth inning,
Trey Rodriguez (Corpus Christi/Carroll HS) and
Ryan Gonzalez (Corpus Christi/Carroll HS) hit back-to-back singles to lead off the inning and then a wild pitch allowed Rodriguez to score from third to give the Cardinals a 3-2 lead.
Leading 3-2 after six innings, the UIW defense stepped up in big situations with a few game-saving plays. In the eighth inning, Lamar's Robin Adames hit a deep fly to right field that could have been a leadoff triple, but instead, Pitts made a tremendous running grab on the warning track for the first out of the inning. Then in the ninth, after the leadoff hitter and tying run reached on a single,
Austin Hoffman (Goodyear, AZ/Millenium HS) made a tough backhanded play to start a 3-6-3 double play to clear the bases. Hoffman did it again with the next batter as he dove for a ball to his right and tossed it to first where Moszkowicz was covering to complete the out and the win.
Each team collected nine hits and Lamar committed two errors while UIW made one. Hoffman and Rodriguez collected two hits apiece with Rodriguez adding a run scored. Morris finished 1-for-3 with a walk and a run scored.
Stijn Van der Meer collected two more hits and was the only Lamar Cardinal with multiple hits. Reid Russell and Adames each drove in a run for the visiting team. Jimmy Johnson pitched 6.1 innings in relief and picked up the loss after allowing one earned run, walking two and striking out one.
The Cardinals will remain in Southland Conference play next weekend when they travel to Central Arkansas for a three-game series starting on Friday at 6 p.m.
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