SAN ANTONIO – Incarnate Word pitching limited the ACU Wildcats to 12 hits and two runs on Saturday as the Cardinals swept a Lone Star Conference baseball doubleheader at Sullivan Field.
The two losses drop the Wildcats to 13-11 overall and 1-2 in the LSC, while the Cardinals improve to 7-7 and 2-1. The two teams will complete the four-game set Sunday with a single game.
ACU managed just six hits in a 3-1 loss in Saturday's opening game, and had just six more hits in a 5-1 loss in the second game Saturday.
In the first game of the doubleheader, the teams were tied 1-1 going to the bottom of the sixth of the seven-inning game, but the tie was quickly broken when UIW's Hector Flores led off the bottom of the inning with a solo home run down the left field line to make it 2-1. The Cardinals added another run in the inning on an RBI infield single by Lucas Miller.
ACU put runners at first and second with only one out in the top of the sixth, but UIW pitcher Jorge Guarneros induced a line-drive out from
Mike Keegan and a groundout from
Sam Gee to end the game. Jordan Herrera was the hard-luck loser for the Wildcats as he went six strong innings, scattering five hits and three runs while striking out four batters and only allowing two walks.
In the second game, the teams were tied at 1-1 through three innings before the Cardinals broke through with two runs in the fourth and two runs in the fifth, and those runs were the difference in the game.
ACU's only run against UIW pitcher Marc Gomez (six hits allowed over seven complete innings) came in the third when freshman
Tyler Eager scored on a wild pitch.
Once again, another ACU pitcher threw a complete game, only to come out on the losing end of the contest. This time it was
Austin Palmer who didn't get any offensive support as he allowed nine hits and five runs over six innings, but walked just two while striking out five Cardinals.
