SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The University of the Incarnate Word baseball team closed out the regular season on Senior Day, honoring 18 Seniors before the game, but it would be Stephen F. Austin who pulled out a 9-6 conference win at Sullivan Field, sponsored by H-E-B, this afternoon.
UIW closed out the season with a 19-29 overall mark and a 9-21 Southland record, while the Lumberjacks improved to 27-25 and 15-15.
SFA took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first, but the Cardinals in the bottom of the second took the lead from the Lumberjacks. It started when
Colin Cymbalista reached base on a throwing error by the third baseman that allowed him to advance to second. Following a ground to second,
Jake Weaver walked to put runners on first and second. The Cardinals then loaded the bases when
Justin Rumfield singled through the left side. Both Cymbalista and Weaver came around to score to make it 2-1 off
Trent Rucker's two-run single to left. Still with one out,
Preston Newberry singled to load the bases for the second time in the inning before
Drake Anderson's two-run double to the left-center gap scored Rumfield and Rucker to push the lead to 4-1 before the inning ended.
The Lumberjacks tied the game at four when they scored a run in the third and two in the fourth.
With one down in the bottom of the fourth, Rucker singled through the left side and later moved to second when Newberry dropped a single into left field. Anderson loaded the bases when he singled to left with one down. Rucker touched home on
Cole Tabor's sacrifice fly to right field to put UIW back in front by a score of 5-4 before the inning closed.
SFA reclaimed the lead in the top of the sixth when it drove in a pair of runs off a single down the right field line to make it a 6-5 game.
The Cardinals went scoreless for the next two and a half innings, as both teams headed to the top of the ninth.
SFA pushed three runs across in the ninth with two of the runs coming off a triple and the other coming off an RBI single to go up 9-5.
With UIW down to its final three outs of the season, Anderson opened up the bottom half of the ninth with a solo home run on a 2-0 count to make it 9-6. It would be his fifth home run of the year. The Cardinals, after that, unfortunately, went down in order to end the game.
Cardinal starter
Fawster Voytko gave up two runs on three hits in two innings, while reliever
Hayden Capers took the loss to fall to 1-2 on the season. He allowed two runs on four hits in two innings of work.
Anderson finished the day going 3-for-5 with three RBIs, a home run, a double, and a run scored, while teammate Newberry also went 3-for-5 with a double.
Rucker closed out the game with a pair of hits, two runs scored, and two RBIs.
Tabor tallied the team's other RBI off a sacrifice fly, while Cymbalista,
Tony DeJesus, and Rumfield all recorded a hit. Cymbalista, and Rumfield each scored a run.
Weaver paced the team in walks with two and added a run scored.
