SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – The University of the Incarnate Word baseball team plays their final home series of the season this weekend against Southland Conference rival Abilene Christian University. The teams will play Friday at 6:30 p.m., Saturday at 3 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. at Sullivan Field.
The Cardinals (13-35, 5-19) are coming off a 9-8 win over UTSA on Wednesday. They are hitting .242 as a team and average 3.7 runs per game. Starters
Brance Kahle (Colleyville/Grapevine Faith HS),
Trey Rodriguez (Corpus Christi/Carroll HS) and
Matt Morris (Scottsdale, AZ/Sagauro HS) are each hitting over .280 on the season while
Eddy Gonzalez (Laredo/United HS) and
Tanner Wall (San Antonio/Johnson HS) are hitting .270 and .268, respectively.
Kahle leads the team with a .286 batting average and 28 batted in. Rodriguez has been the team's best hitter in conference play with a .358 average and a .469 on-base percentage against Southland opponents. Morris missed over 30 games with an injury, but is supplying the power in the middle of the lineup that was missing. He has seven extra-base hits and 11 RBI's in just 16 games.
The Cardinals have a team earned run average of 7.57 and opponents are hitting .335 against them. Relief pitcher
Lance Moszkowicz (Spring/Klein Collins HS) has been the top pitcher on the team with a 4.38 ERA and eight saves in 27 appearances. He needs three appearances to become the third player in school history to reach 30 appearances in a season.
Bernie Martinez (Laredo/United HS),
John Shull (San Antonio/Churchill HS) and
Cody Richey (Fair Oaks/Comfort HS) are scheduled to start all three games. UIW will be honoring seven seniors prior to Sunday's game.
The Wildcats (14-31, 6-18) are one game in front of the Cardinals in the conference standings. They are hitting .248 as a team and average 3.6 runs per game. Russell Crippen is the top offensive player on the team with a .308 batting average, 12 doubles, three homers and 18 RBI's. Alex Copeland is hitting .305 while Hunter Markwardt has 19 stolen bases. ACU has three quality starter pitchers set for this weekend in Garrett deMeyere, Aaron Mason and Kyle Carroll. DeMeyere is 3-7 with a 3.68 ERA, Mason is 5-5 with a 2.92 ERA and Carroll is 3-7 with a 4.12 ERA. Nick Palacios is the top man out of the bullpen with five saves and a 3.34 ERA in 35.0 innings.
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