SAN ANTONIO – A five-run fifth inning propelled the University of the Incarnate Word baseball team to a 9-8 Southland Conference victory over Central Arkansas in game two of the series, on Saturday at Sullivan Field.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Cardinals (12-8, 3-2 SLC) came back after a tough 15-10 loss Friday night and tied the series with a strong offensive outing. They outhit the Bears 15-9 and survived a late comeback effort.
After taking a 1-0 lead in the first the Bears (8-12, 1-4 SLC) gave it right back in the second thanks to a mammoth homerun from freshman,
Lee Thomas, who hit it over the netting in right field into the parking lot.
Kyle Bergeron then scored on a sacrifice fly from
Ray Swyers to take a 2-1 lead.
The Bears would regain the lead in the fourth with two unearned runs. With the bases loaded, Brooks Balisterri hit a sharp groundball up the middle that took a bad hop into centerfield for a single.
Mark Whitehead then picked up the ball and threw out the runner from first at home plate to keep the game 3-2 in favor of UCA.
But the lead wouldn't last long, as the Cardinals responded with two in the fourth and then added the big five spot in the fifth to make it 9-3.
Nico Garza,
Bryce Shepherd, and
Eddy Gonzalez all drove in runs in the fifth giving UIW pitching some room to work with.
And those runs would prove to be very important. After scoring two runs, UCA's Eddie Sanchez cleared the bases with a double that would cut the Cardinal lead to 9-8. With the tying run in scoring position,
Lance Moszkowicz induced a groundout to end the inning. He would go on to collect a seven-out save, that didn't come easy. He pitched 2.1 innings, allowing two hits, no runs and striking out three in his second save of the season.
Bernie Martinez moved to 3-0 after turning in another strong performance. He tossed 6.0 innings, allowed six hits, two walks, one earned run (two unearned) and struck out four.
For the Bears, starter Jacob Murray got tabbed with the loss after giving up four runs in 4.0 innings pitched.
LEADERS
Bergeron and Shepherd each collected three hits and scored twice in the ballgame. Shepherd also drove in a run.
Ryan Gonzalez and Whitehead both drove in two, and
Kyler Genenbacher finished the game 2-for-2 with two runs and a walk, and raised his batting average to .426 on the year. Thomas' homerun was his second of the season, and he also scored two runs for UIW.
For UCA, Hunter Strong led the way with three hits including a double, and Sanchez drove in three runs. Jansen McCurdy had a hit, drove in two, and scored another in the loss.
UP NEXT
The Cardinals will host game three of the series tomorrow at 1 p.m. at Sullivan Field.
John Shull (1-2, 6.23) will be on the mound for UIW and UCA's starter is to be announced.
STAY TUNED
UIW will follow the weekend series with a non-conference game at Texas A&M Corpus Christi on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
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