MONROE, La. – The University of the Incarnate Word baseball team split the first two games of the series at the University of Louisiana at Monroe with a 6-5 loss in game one, followed by a 7-4 victory for game two. The Cardinals head to the Sunday rubber match at 1 p.m.

Dalton Beck finished with three doubles and a triple through the two games, while JD Gregson added two doubles and a home run to total three runs, three hits and four RBIs. Cameron Caley collected all of his three runs, three hits and one RBI in game two.

Game One (ULM 6, UIW 5)
After three scoreless innings on Friday night, the right field lights at Lou St. Amant Field went out suspending the rest of the game until Saturday morning at 11 a.m.

Josh Salinas started on the mound, holding the Warhawks to only one hit, through the first three innings while striking out four batters. Neither team had much action until the sixth inning when ULM scored off a Cardinal throwing error to take the 1-0 lead.

Ryder Hernandez hit an RBI single to right field and Tyler Cowan grounded out to send Hernandez home in the seventh for a 2-1 Cardinal advantage.

ULM's bats got going in the bottom of the inning, putting up three runs off a wild pitch, home run and an RBI single (5-2).

Gregson answered with a three-run homer out to left field that tied the game up at five in the eighth, but the Warhawks took a 6-5 lead in the bottom of the inning and UIW was unable to score in the ninth to close out the loss.
 
Game Two (UIW 7, ULM 4)
UIW's bats were nice and warm for game two. Caley led off with a single to right center and Beck doubled to left field to bring Caley home for the 1-0 edge.

The Warhawks tied the game 1-1 at the end of the first, but Caley's next at bat in the second produced a triple, leaving him in scoring position for Rob Liddington Jr's fly out to left center that sent him across the plate (2-1).

Caley, proving to be on a hot streak, hit an RBI single up the middle in the fourth and UIW sent two more runners home in the fifth for a commanding 5-1 lead.

ULM scored two in the fifth, but the Cardinals answered with an RBI single from Rey Mendoza for a three-run lead in the middle of the sixth.

A solo homer from the Warhawks brought the score to 6-4 before a RBI single from Weldon Sherrell solidified the 7-4 victory.

Westin Walls closed out the last four innings, allowing only two hits and one run, while striking out seven to take home the win.

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