News
ARMIJO'S SENIOR YEAR GETS ONE LAST HONOR -- posted Monday, June 8 2009
Incarnate Word senior pitcher Chris Armijo added another honor to his stellar senior season by being named to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Division II All-American First Team as a starting pitcher.
The San Antonio native – who also earned a 2009 Daktronics NCAA Division II South Central Regional First Team, a 2009 Daktronics NCAA DII National All-American, three Heartland Conference Pitcher of the Week awards and a spot on the Heartland Conference First Team – was ranked 29th nationally in ERA with a 2.22, tied for second in victories with 11, 70th in strikeouts per nine innings (averaging nine per contest), and 6th in hits allowed per game (6.0 average).
His ERA is the second-best effort by a Cardinal pitcher in a season, trailing only Rey Mendoza who threw a 1.57 in 1992. His win-total ties him for the fourth-best season as far as wins earned, and of those with 11 wins, he shares the distinction of an undefeated (1.000 winning percentage) season with Bill Marion in the 1990 season.
ARMIJO NEWEST INCARNATE WORD ALL-AMERICAN -- posted Monday, May 25 2009
Senior pitcher Chris Armijo earned recognition nationally this week, being named to the 2009 Daktronics NCAA Division II All-American First Team as a starting pitcher.
A native of San Antonio, Armijo spent the season frustrating opposing batters and coaches with an 11-0 record, a 2.22 ERA and 81 innings pitched and was named the Heartland Conference Pitcher of the Year. The lefty threw five complete games, striking out a team-leading 81 batters and allowed just 54 hits against in 284 at-bats.
His ERA is the second-best effort by a Cardinal pitcher in a season, trailing only Rey Mendoza who threw a 1.57 in 1992. His 11 wins tie him for the fourth-best season as far as wins earned, and of those with 11 wins, he shares the distinction of an undefeated (1.000 winning percentage) season with Bill Marion in the 1990 season.
Armijo’s final season as a Cardinal also saw him win three Pitcher of the Week awards and get named to the All-Heartland Conference First Team. Nationally, Armijo’s stats had him ranked 29th in ERA, tied for second in victories, 70th in strikeouts per nine innings (averaging nine per contest), and 6th in hits allowed per game (6.0 average).
Additionally, he earned a spot on the Daktronics NCAA Division II South Central All-Regional First Team at pitcher as well, earning him a nomination for the national award.
ANOTHER UIW TRIO HONORED FOR BASEBALL -- posted Tuesday, May 19 2009
The 2009 American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings All-South Central Region Teams have been released and the Heartland Conference has been represented by a few Cardinals this season.
Incarnate Word seniors Chris Armijo and Chris Pacheco both were voted to the First Team by NCAA Division II regional coaches, while Reno Malay earned a place on the Second Team at third base.
For Pacheco, it is his second time to win the honor, while it is the first time for Armijo and Malay.
Pacheco, who started every game for UIW at centerfield, had an impressive batting average of .439 and led the team in hits (79), Runs Scored (65) and Stolen Bases (27). In the field, he had only two errors for a fielding percentage of 98.4.
Nationally, Pacheco was ranked 28th in batting average, 40th in runs-per-game (1.23), 26th in runs scored and 61st in hits. He was also 28th in triples, 22nd in on-base percentage (.536), and 26th in stolen bases.
Earning a starting pitcher spot on the First Team, Armijo pitched his way to an 11-0 record, a 2.22 ERA and 81 innings pitched while earning the Heartland Conference Pitcher of the Year award. The lefty threw five complete games, striking out a team-leading 81 batters and allowed just 54 hits against in 284 at-bats.
His ERA is the second-best effort by a Cardinal pitcher in a season, trailing only Rey Mendoza who threw a 1.57 in 1992. His 11 wins tie him for the fourth-best season as far as wins earned, and of those with 11 wins, he shares the distinction of an undefeated (1.000 winning percentage) season with Bill Marion in the 1990 season.
Malay, a junior infielder who saw time at every position in the dirt this year, finished the 2009 season with a batting average to .361 and finished the season with 65 hits and 72 RBI. He started every one of UIW’s 53 contests and only struck out 20 times in his 180 at-bats.
Fielding-wise, he had a percentage of .947 as he helped the Cardinals finish in second place in the Heartland Conference and a 36-17 overall record.
ARMIJO, PACHECO & ROOHAN NAMED ALL-REGION -- posted Friday, May 15 2009
UIW senior Chris Armijo was named to the 2009 Daktronics All-South Central Region First Team.
UIW senior Chris Pacheco was named to the 2009 Daktronics All-South Central Region SecondTeam.
UIW sophomore Matt Roohan was named to the 2009 Daktronics All-South Central Region SecondTeam.
A trio of Cardinals were recognized for their on-the-field effort in the 2009 baseball season as Chris Armijo, Chris Pacheco and Matt Roohan were named to the 2009 Daktronics All-South Central Region Team.
Armijo, a senior for UIW, was named to the First Team as a starting pitcher, while Pacheco and Roohan earned Second Team awards for outfield and utility, respectively.
A native of San Antonio, Armijo spent the season frustrating opposing batters and coaches with an 11-0 record, a 2.22 ERA and 81 innings pitched and was named the Heartland Conference Pitcher of the Year. The lefty threw five complete games, striking out a team-leading 81 batters and allowed just 54 hits against in 284 at-bats.
His ERA is the second-best effort by a Cardinal pitcher in a season, trailing only Rey Mendoza who threw a 1.57 in 1992. His 11 wins tie him for the fourth-best season as far as wins earned, and of those with 11 wins, he shares the distinction of an undefeated (1.000 winning percentage) season with Bill Marion in the 1990 season.
Armijo’s final season as a Cardinal also saw him win three Pitcher of the Week awards and get named to the All-Heartland Conference First Team. Nationally, Armijo’s stats had him ranked 29th in ERA, tied for second in victories, 70th in strikeouts per nine innings (averaging nine per contest), and 6th in hits allowed per game (6.0 average).
Another senior player for UIW was Pacheco, a player who earned Hitter of the Week awards three times in 2009 and started every game for the Cardinals out in centerfield. Pacheco’s batting average was an impressive .439 as he led the team in hits (79), Runs Scored (65) and Stolen Bases (27). In the field, he had only two errors for a fielding percentage of 98.4.
Nationally, Pacheco was ranked 28th in batting average, 40th in runs-per-game (1.23), 26th in runs scored and 61st in hits. He was also 28th in triples, 22nd in on-base percentage (.536), and 26th in stolen bases.
Pacheco also earned a Second Team award for his play last year.
Roohan, a sophomore from Judson, saw his season come to an early end due to a wrist injury, but his statistics kept him among the top players in the Heartland Conference.
His batting average of .462 put him third on the team and his slugging percentage of .725 was the best UIW had in the 09 season. Additionally, he finished in the top five on the team in On Base Percentage (.545), Runs Batted In (37) and Home Runs (4).
Angelo State University’s Keith Towne and University of Central Missouri’s Chris Matlock headlined the 2009 Daktronics All-South Central Region team today as the Player and Pitcher of the Year.
Armijo is now a candidate for a Daktronics All-American award.
MALAY ADDS ANOTHER AWARD TO UIW'S SEASON -- posted Thursday, May 14 2009
More awards have come in for the University of the Incarnate Word baseball team, as Reno Malay earned a co-Hitter of the Week award from the Heartland Conference following the final weekend of play for the 2009 season.
Mr. Everything for the Cardinals finished the 2009 season with seven hits and 10 RBI in three games against St. Edward’s University, including two doubles and a grand slam home run.
He improved his batting average to .361 and finished the season with 65 hits and 72 RBI. During a year in which the junior started every one of UIW’s 53 contests, Malay played every position in the infield at some point and only struck out 20 times in his 180 at-bats.
The Buda, TX native was also named to the All-Heartland Conference First Team earlier this week.
HOOD NAMED ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT HONOREE -- posted Monday, May 11 2009
Josh Hood, a Business Management major and San Antonio native, was named to First Team for District VI’s College Division for his overall GPA of 3.84.
Cardinal senior second baseman Josh Hood earned post-season recognition for his work in the classroom by being named to the 2009 ESPN/CoSIDA Academic All-District Baseball Team.
Hood, a Business Management major and San Antonio native, was named to First Team for District VI’s College Division for his overall GPA of 3.84.
On the field, Hood had a .358 batting average and connected on 62 hits (15 doubles, 6 home runs) while being credited with 40 RBI. He started 51 of the 52 games he played in and assisted in 131 outs while in the field.
HEARTLAND RELEASES BASEBALL ALL-CONFERENCE -- posted Monday, May 11 2009
Reno Malay, an infielder who saw time at first, third, shortstop and catcher, started every game for the Cardinals in 2009, piling up 180 at-bats in 223 plate appearances and a .361 batting average along the way.
Centerfield in 2009 for UIW was handled by Chris Pacheco, a senior who earned Hitter of the Week awards three times in 2009 and started every game for the Cardinals out in the grass.
With the 2009 baseball regular season done with, the Heartland Conference released the All-Heartland Conference Baseball First and Second Teams on Monday.
31 student-athletes were selected by the head baseball coaches of the conference and University of the Incarnate Word was well represented on both teams – as well as the individual awards.
Earning special recognition for the Cardinals was a pair of pitchers, one at the end of his UIW career and the other just starting his.
Senior Chris Armijo spent the 2009 season frustrating opposing batters and coaches with an 11-0 record, a 2.22 ERA and 81 innings pitched and was named the Heartland Conference Pitcher of the Year. The lefty threw five complete games, striking out a team-leading 81 batters and allowed just 54 hits against in 284 at-bats.
Earning Freshman of the Year accolades was UIW pitcher Kirk Jewasko, who put together a 6-4 record in his first season in the red and black. Jewasko, another lefty on the Cardinals’ staff, finished the year with a 3.31 ERA and a team-leading 84 1/3 innings pitched (including three complete games). He battled through 335 at-bats and was second on the team in strikeouts with 70.
Armijo was named to the All-Heartland Conference First Team while Jewasko earned a spot on the Second Team.
Joining Armijo on the First Team were Reno Malay and Chris Pacheco.
Malay, an infielder who saw time at first, third, shortstop and catcher, started every game for the Cardinals in 2009, piling up 180 at-bats in 223 plate appearances and a .361 batting average along the way. The junior led Incarnate Word in RBIs with 72, doubles (19) and home runs (7) while he was Top 5 on the team in Slugging Percentage (.583), Runs Scored (54), Hits (65), Total Bases (105) and Sac Flies (6).
Centerfield in 2009 for UIW was handled by Pacheco, a senior who earned Hitter of the Week awards three times in 2009 and started every game for the Cardinals out in the grass. Pacheco’s batting average was an impressive .439 as he led the team in hits (79), Runs Scored (65) and Stolen Bases (27). In the field, he had only two errors for a fielding percentage of 98.4.
On the Second Team, Jewasko was joined by shortstop Tyler Jett and outfielders Tyler Hicks and Drew Hamilton.
Jett, a senior who started all 51 games he started in 2009, had a batting average of .377 with 61 hits and 45 RBI while scoring 34 runs. In the field, he assisted on 123 outs.
Hicks, the Cardinals’ leadoff hitter nearly the entire season, started all 53 games for UIW. His batting average was .343 and in 207 at-bats, he had 71 hits (second on the team) which included 14 doubles, 5 triples and 5 homers. He also was credited with 30 RBI.
Hamilton, another 53-game starter for Incarnate Word in the outfield, had a .321 batting average in 193 at-bats with 62 hits and 36 RBI. In the field, he caught 75 fly balls for outs and was only credited with one error on the season for a 98.8 fielding percentage.
In all, the entire UIW outfield was named to either the First or Second Teams while the starting shortstop, two starting pitchers and third/first baseman were also named to an all-conference team – giving Incarnate Word seven starters being recognized for a season in which the team finished 36-17 and in second place in the Heartland Conference.
Texas-Permian Basin’s Logan Forest was named the conference’s Player of the Year while UTPB manager Brian Reinke was named Coach of the Year for leading the Falcons to first place.
BASEBALL TEAM'S CONFERENCE TITLE SLIPS AWAY -- posted Saturday, May 9 2009
Coach Danny Heep's Cardinals lost to St. Ed's on Saturday, 7-5, ruining UIW's chance for first place in the Heartland Conference. Incarnate Word ended the 2009 season with a 36-17 record and finished in second place in the conference.
The Cardinals knew going into Saturday’s game what had to be done.
In order to clinch first place in the Heartland Conference and claim an automatic bid into the NCAA Division II Baseball Playoffs, Incarnate Word had to defeat visiting St. Edward’s University. It was that simple – win and you’re in. Win, and Permian Basin’s season is over.
Up 5-1 going into the seventh inning, everything went wrong for UIW and St. Edward’s scored six unanswered runs in the seventh and eighth to pull ahead 7-5 and beat Incarnate Word in the regular season finale at Sullivan Field.
“They gave me everything they had,” Heep said of his team. “We were shorthanded because we lost our shortstop the first play of the game. Even f we go to regionals, we don’t have a shortstop now and I have two other guys hurt.
“St. Ed’s is a tough team to sweep three games from. We lost a lot of one-run games this season.”
The loss drops the Cardinals to 36-17 overall and 32-14 in the conference. UTPB, having an advantage of playing three more games in-conference because weather did not interfere with the Falcons’ schedule, claimed the championship with a 35-14 conference mark (39-17 overall).
After the game, head coach Danny Heep talked to his team for a good while and then set them out to talk to their friends and family waiting outside the park. Heep said that the Cardinals’ chances for an at-large bid are practically nil because the team never cracked into the top six in the national rankings.
So, barring an unforeseen miracle, the 2009 season is over – and it’s one season that Heep said surprised him.
“I think it was better than I expected,” Heep summarized. “I told these guys at the start of the season that I thought we were a .500 team and how hard we worked would dictate how much under and how much over .500 we would be.
“I knew our offense was going to struggle and I knew we couldn’t afford to get anybody hurt but, you know, if someone would have told me that you can play one game for May 8th or 9th for the conference championship, I would have taken it.”
Finishing up their careers at Incarnate Word are senior starters Chris Armijo, Josh Hood, Matt Hogan, Chris Pacheco and Tyler Jett.
Heep talked a little bit about most of his graduating players:
“Armijo just had a pretty awesome season,” Heep said. “11-0 with about a 2.2 ERA, I mean you can’t ask for anything more than that… Hood has been here since his freshman year and he’s done a great job playing second base…
“Pacheco had a great year – in fact Pacheco had a great three years,” Heep said of the Cardinals’ center fielder. “Last year he had a great year and he followed it up this year.”
Also getting words of praise were Paul Brancheau, Todd Trevino, Jake Smith and Alfredo Caballero.
“Paul didn’t have a really – according to his standards – great senior year but he works hard. Pitching at this level with aluminum bats, ya know, it’s a break here and there or a ball falling one way or another. But he works hard.
“We have to replace these guys, ya know?” Heep continued. “We have to go out and find ourselves a new shortstop. We have to go find some 3-4-5 hitters. We’ve got to find a starting pitcher that can replace Armijo. Those aren’t easy things to do.”
Now with games over with, Heep and his coaching staff must find players on the roster to step up and bring in new talent fresh from high schools or junior colleges.
“We’ve got some young kids coming up and we had some kids get their feet wet this year and I expect them to get better.”
CARDS TAKE CARE OF ST. EDWARDS ON FIRST DAY -- posted Friday, May 8 2009
UIW third baseman Reno Malay crushed a grand slam home run in game one of Friday's doubleheader against St. Edward's. It was Malay's seventh home run of the season.
The University of the Incarnate Word baseball team knew going into Friday’s doubleheader against St. Edward’s University that for the Cardinals to have a claim for first place in the Heartland Conference, UIW would have to sweep the visiting Hilltoppers in all three games happening at Sullivan Field this weekend.
Up against the fourth place team in the conference, Incarnate Word won two convincing victories against SEU, 9-3 and 9-2, using three big innings – a five-run sixth in the first game and two four-run innings in the second contest – to blow out St. Edward’s on Friday.
Meanwhile, over in Laredo, Texas A&M International University beat the Rattlers twice on Friday – 7-2 and 10-7 – to knock St. Mary’s out of first place (and all the way down to third) and essentially guarantee UIW first place in the conference should the Cardinals lose on Saturday (a 3 p.m. contest) and STMU finish the season with a win.
UIW wins the tie-beaker against the Rattlers because Incarnate Word won 4-of-7 from STMU in the season series, giving the Cards (36-16 overall, 32-13 in conference) the head-to-head victory.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the conference, Texas-Permian Basin faced off against Newman University in a doubleheader. The Falcons are the only team with a chance to ruin Incarnate Word’s bid for first place in the conference, having an extra game played on their conference record (UIW lost three games against Lincoln University because the games were called due to weather). With no scores being reported for UTPB at this time, the only thing for certain is that UIW needs to win Saturday and the Falcons need to lose two games to Newman in order for Incarnate Word to definitely claim first place.
Back in San Antonio, St. Edward’s gave UIW struggles early in both games, but the Cardinals’ hitting proved too much for the Hilltoppers to compete with in both games.
In the first game, SEU led 2-1 before a two-run third by UIW gave them a 3-2 lead that they would never relinquish. St. Edward’s closed the gap to 4-3 in the top of the sixth, but UIW hammered out five runs in the bottom half of the same inning to put the game away. Four of the runs came off the bat of Reno Malay, who crushed his seventh homer of the year in dramatic fashion for a grand slam after SEU had intentionally walked Chris Pacheco (loading the bases) to pitch to Malay.
Kirk Jewasko went 5 2/3 innings for the victory (5-3), striking out four and giving up seven hits. Keith Vasquez came into the game in the sixth inning with the tying run at second base and shut the Hilltoppers down for his third save of the year.
In the second matchup, the lead changed three times – with UIW taking a 1-0 lead in the first and then falling behind 2-1 following a two-run home run by Drew Cross (his 14th of the season). The Cardinals responded by racking up four runs in the bottom of the fourth and four more in the bottom of the sixth, helped by five SEU errors.
After the dust had settled, UIW had ripped off 16 hits and committed no errors while starting pitcher Chris Armijo threw nine complete innings, striking out eight and giving up just two hits (a single and the Cross homer, both in the third inning) and two runs en route to his 11th victory of the season.
Armijo remains undefeated in his senior year and his ERA is now 2.22.
The Cardinals wrap up the series against St. Edward’s, as well as the 2009 regular season, with the home finale at Sullivan Field at 3 p.m. Saturday. The game was moved back to accommodate the Cardinal senior players who will participate in graduation festivities at 1 p.m. on campus.
SATURDAY'S START TIME CHANGE FOR GRADUATION -- posted Thursday, May 7 2009
The Incarnate Word baseball team's last game of the regular season - a nine-inning Heartland Conference game against St. Edward's University - has been moved from a 1 p.m. start time to 3 p.m.
The move was made to allow members of UIW's team to take part in the graduation ceremonies and help baseball fans deal with less traffic around Sullivan Field.
The game pits the second place Cardinals (34-16 overall, 30-13 in conference) against SEU (33-20 overall, 30-16 conference) with UIW's playoff hopes on the line.
Incarnate Word must defeat the Hilltoppers in all three games this weekend (Friday's doubleheader still starts at 1 p.m.) in order to have a chance to win the conference. In addition to the three victories over SEU, St. Mary's University (35-15 overall, 31-12 conference) must lose one of their three matchups against Texas A&M International University in order to create a tie in first between UIW and STMU.
When that situation happens, the Cardinals will claim first place and the NCAA Division II Playoffs automatic bid because Incarnate Word won four out of the seven games played against the Rattlers this season - giving them the head-to-head advantage in a tiebreaker.
UIW can still take first if they lose a game to St. Edward's - but only if St. Mary's loses two games.
BASEBALL NOW IN SECOND GOING INTO FINAL WEEKEND -- posted Saturday, May 2 2009
Tyler Jett connected on his second home run of the season for a grand slam and the 12-8 lead to help UIW win the series finale, 18-11. UIW took 3-of-4 from UTPB this weekend and are now in second place.
After splitting games in Friday’s doubleheader against Texas-Permian Basin, Incarnate Word baseball coach Danny Heep said his team had an uphill battle ahead of them as they atempt to claim first place in the Heartland Conference and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II baseball playoffs.
In Saturday’s doubleheader, the Cardinals were able to win another extra-inning game against the No. 17-ranked Falcons, 7-6, and then came out on top of a back-and-forth contest in the series finale, 18-11.
The two victories (and three out of four over the weekend), coupled with the three victories by St. Mary’s University over Lincoln University this same weekend, has changed the top three spots in the conference with one weekend remaining in the regular season.
STMU (35-15 overall) is now in first place with a 31-12 conference record. In second place is UIW (34-16 overall, 30-13 in conference) and UTPB has dropped to third place (36-17, 32-14). In fourth place is St. Edward’s University – which will be at Sullivan Field this upcoming weekend for three games against the Cardinals – with a 27-15 conference record (30-19 overall).
In the first game, UTPB jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning and forced the Cardinals to play catchup the rest of the way.
UIW scored twice in the second inning off of two consecutive solo home runs by Josh Hood and Ethan Lutz. It was the sixth homer for Hood and the second of the season for Lutz, cutting the Falcons’ lead to 4-2.
Later, in the 5th inning, UIW scored three runs, starting with a leadoff homer by Tyler Hicks (his fifth of the season). The two other runs were scored after Chris Pacheco hit a single and then Pacheco scored on a double by Reno Malay – that, aided by an error in the outfield, was nearly an inside the park home run as Malay also rounded the bases and beat out a throw at home.
The game then tied at 5-5, UTPB hit two consecutive doubles to get a run home for the 6-5 lead in the sixth inning. In the same inning, UIW managed to load the bases, but left all three stranded when Pacheco hit a line drive into left field that was snagged by the outfielder.
But the Cardinals didn’t stop and tied the game at 6-6 in the bottom of the seventh thanks to consecutive doubles by Trey Hogan and Josh Hood. UIW left two on base, however, and the game went into extra innings.
Incarnate Word then won the game in the bottom of the eighth on an RBI triple by Pacheco that scored Drew Hamilton. Keith Vasquez, who had come in to pitch three innings of relief, was credited with the win (6-4).
The second contest between the two squads saw two tie scores, two lead changes, 29 runs between the two schools and 27 hits. After the dust settled, Incarnate Word won the game, 18-11, after having taken an 8-2 lead in the second inning; giving up six unanswered runs and allowing UTPB to knot things up, 8-8, in the top of the fourth; and then scoring 10 runs the rest of the way for the victory.
The bottom of the fourth, with the game tied at 8-8, saw three Cardinals reach base by being hit by pitches when Tyler Jett connected on his second home run of the season for a grand slam and the 12-8 lead.
The Falcons closed the gap to 12-11 in the fifth, but UIW responded with another four-run inning in the bottom half of the same inning and added another two runs in the bottom of the sixth.
Paul Brancheau was credited with win after coming in and pitching relief for Incarnate Word. Kirk Jewasko pitched 2 1/3 innings for the save.
UIW hosts SEU on Friday and Saturday, May 8-9. Friday will consists of a doubleheader (one seven-inning game, one nine-inning) starting at 1 p.m. Saturday’s single game is nine innings and scheduled to start at 1 p.m.
CARDINALS, FALCONS SPLIT FRIDAY'S DOUBLEHEADER -- posted Friday, May 1 2009
Drew Hamilton's RBI single in the bottom of the 10th gave UIW the 6-5 victory over No. 17 UTPB
Playing host to the 17th-ranked team in NCAA’s Division II, the Incarnate Word Cardinals split Friday’s doubleheader against Texas-Permian Basin with a 12-5 loss and a 6-5 10-inning victory at Sullivan Field.
Dropping the first game of the weekend series puts UIW (32-16 overall, 28-12 in conference) in a tough situation as they try to claim first place in the Heartland Conference and move on into the NCAA Division II postseason.
“We have an uphill battle,” head coach Danny Heep said. “Even if we win two tomorrow, we still have to play and win two-out-of-three from St. Edward’s and then we’ll need help (to take first place).
“We can’t lose a game tomorrow. Simple as that.”
The perfect result after Friday’s games would have had Incarnate Word winning two games, but it was evident early on in the first contest that the Cardinals were going to have to earn every run against UTPB.
“We didn’t hit the ball in the first game and they came out and took it to us – ran up 12 runs on us and we don’t have the kind of offense to come from behind like that,” Heep said simply.
Kirk Jewasko dropped the first contest, pitching just four innings and surrendering seven runs (six earned) and striking out just two Falcons before making way for the bullpen. In the second game, undefeated Chris Armijo left the game with his 10-0 record in jeopardy, trailing 4-3, before Keith Vasquez came in and earned the victory in four innings of work (improving his record to 5-4).
With the UIW starting pitchers having trouble, it made the Cardinals’ task of defeated the first place team in the conference all that more difficult.
“We were hoping our number one and two (pitchers) could come out and win both games today,” Heep said. “Armijo wasn’t as sharp as he had been the last four or five outings. Jewasko wasn’t either.”
UIW tied the second contest in the bottom of the seventh (all games between Incarnate Word and UTPB this weekend are seven innings) with two runs, 5-5.
The rally started with a double to left-center by Chris Pacheco, who then advanced to third and then on to home following a throwing error to first on a routine ground ball to shortstop on a hit by Josh Hood, who advanced to second. Finally, Hood scored on an RBI single by Ethan Lutz – sending the game to extra innings.
The game went on until the 10th, with both teams getting runners in scoring position in the 8th and 9th innings, but failing to bring anyone home.
In the 10th, UTPB had a long blast down the left field line go out near the foul pole with two outs against the Falcons. The Permian dugout emptied as they believed the ball had gone out for a home run – and soon were screaming in protest when the umpire called the ball foul.
Miller came back and proceeded to fly out deep to center field on the next pitch, giving UIW a chance to make the most of the close call.
“We were 0-6 in extra inning games before that,” Heep said. “I guess odds are, if you play enough of them, maybe you’ll win one.”
And win the Cardinals did – with shortstop Tyler Jett getting to second base on a throwing error and then advancing to third on a sac bunt by Tyler Hicks. Finally, Drew Hamilton put an end to the game by putting a single up the middle and scoring Jett for the 6-5 win.
UIW had come back against the first place team in the Heartland Conference and the No. 17 team in the NCAA’s Division II. Because Incarnate Word lost the first game against UTPB, every game remaining in the regular season now becomes a must-win situation for the Cardinals, heightening the importance of every pitch, every hit and every throw for UIW.
“That’s what it’s all about,” Heep said. “Every game, every play means something. Every call means something – we’ve had them go for us and we’ve had them go against us. That’s just part of it. We had a tough series against St. Mary’s that had two extra-inning games and one 1-0 game and you’ve got to win the close games. You’ve got to suck it up. You’ve got to make plays when it means something in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings – and the team that does, wins. Simple as that.”
Saturday’s doubleheaders will start at noon.
ARMIJO NAMED PITCHER OF THE WEEK FOR THIRD TIME -- posted Wednesday, April 29 2009
Armijo, a San Antonio native, earned his third award of the 2009 season after a 1-0 victory over cross-town and conference rival St. Mary’s University on Friday. Against the Rattlers, he struck out five batters and allowed just one hit in seven innings.
Cardinal pitcher Chris Armijo was recognized as the Heartland Conference Pitcher of the Week on Tuesday by league offices for his efforts over the week of April 20-26.
Armijo, a San Antonio native, earned his third award of the 2009 season after a 1-0 victory over cross-town and conference rival St. Mary’s University on Friday. Against the Rattlers, he struck out five batters and allowed just one hit in seven innings.
The senior right hander currently leads the Heartland Conference in ERA with a 1.52 and has 69 strikeouts which is third-best in the conference and leads UIW. Additionally, he is undefeated with a 10-0 personal record which ties him for first in the conference for wins.
Incarnate Word (31-15 overall, 27-12 for third in the conference) plays host to first place Texas – Permian Basin this weekend in two doubleheaders on Friday (1 p.m.) and Saturday (noon). UIW has to beat the Falcons (35-14, 31-11) to have a chance to claim first place before season’s end and earn the conference’s automatic bid into the NCAA Division II Tournament.
All four games played over the weekend are slated to be seven innings. UIW won 2-of-3 against UTPB on the Falcons’ home field back in March – losing an 8-7 decision in 11 innings and then taking 11-1 and 4-3 victories to wrap up that part of the series.
Incarnate Word finishes the 2009 season at Sullivan Field with three games against fourth place St. Edward’s University on May 8-9.
UIW, STMU GO ANOTHER 10 INNINGS IN CONFERENCE PLAY -- posted Saturday, April 25 2009
Reno Malay hit a 3-run blast in the top of the ninth inning against St. Mary's to tie Saturday's game and help send it to extra innings. It was his team-leading sixth home run of the season.
There is never a shortage of drama, energy or excitement whenever University of the Incarnate Word faces off against Heartland Conference and cross-town rival St. Mary’s University.
In Saturday’s conference baseball game at V.J. Keefe Memorial Stadium, the Cardinals and Rattlers – both trying to catch Texas-Permian Basin for first place in the Heartland Conference – finished off the regular-season series between the two with a nine-inning game that had multiple lead changes, plays at the plate and clutch home runs for both sides.
In the end, #22 St. Mary’s won the game thanks to a three-run homer by Michael Brzezinski in the bottom of the 10th for the 10-8 victory.
The Cardinals (31-15 overall, 27-12 conference) were up 8-7 when Brzezinki’s shot cleared the wall in left field, having come back from as many as five runs down early in the contest.
Incarnate Word’s bats got them back into the contest in a big way – with Josh Hood and Reno Malay both connecting on three-run homers in the sixth and ninth innings, respectively.
Hood’s fifth jack of the season brought UIW back to within two runs, 6-4, and after STMU got another run home in the seventh, Malay’s team-leading sixth home run of the season tied the game at 7-7.
After Malay’s shot over the left-field wall, Incarnate Word took an 8-7 lead in the top of the tenth inning. Hood led off the inning with a single and then advanced to second on a sac bunt by Chris Pacheco. After a pop-out, Hood got his chance to score thanks to a single up the middle by Tyler Jett. Hood rounded third and got to home plate the same time as the throw from the outfield and the contact at the plate knocked the ball loose from STMU catcher Ryan Morrow.
Hood finished the game an outstanding 5-for-5 at the plate with three RBIs and two runs. Along with his homer, he had a double and three singles. Also hitting well was right fielder Drew Hamilton who went 4-for-6 with four singles and a run scored.
On the mound for UIW, Tommy Salas, the fourth pitcher used by the Cardinals in the game, gave up the game-winning home run and took the loss (1-2).
The loss drops UIW into third place and a half-game behind St. Mary’s in the overall standings – although Incarnate Word won the overall series against the Rattlers, 4-3, in case a tie-breaker comes up down the line.
Now, the Cardinals have a week to prepare for two home series at Sullivan Field over the next two weekends. This upcoming Friday and Saturday, conference leader Texas – Permian Basin will be in San Antonio and give UIW its best chance to get back into the hunt for first place and the automatic bid into the NCAA Division II Tournament.
UIW has a 2-1 series advantage over UTPB, winning two games in Odessa earlier this season.
Both days that the Falcons are in town will feature doubleheaders of seven-inning games. Friday’s games start at 1 p.m. while Saturday’s contests are scheduled for a noon first pitch.
The final weekend of the season, Incarnate Word plays host to St. Edward’s University in games that will likely have a major impact on the Cardinals’ playoff hopes.
BASEBALL SPLITS TWO CLOSE GAMES AT ST. MARY'S -- posted Friday, April 24 2009
UIW catcher Josiah Rodriguez scored the only run in a 1-0 victory over #22 St. Mary's in the second game of Friday's doubleheader. UIW lost the first game, 3-2, in a game that went 10 innings.
In the battle to catch first place in baseball for the Heartland Conference for University of the Incarnate Word met up against tough competition across town at conference rival St. Mary’s University on Friday, as the two teams fought hard and split a doubleheader in two games decided by one run.
UIW (21-14 overall, 27-11 conference) and St. Mary’s (31-15, 27-12) were supposed to play a seven-inning game to start the day and then finish with a nine-inning game. However, the first matchup of the day went 10 innings and the second game, as per conference rules, was changed to a seven-inning event.
The Cardinals lost the first game – coming back from a 2-0 deficit with a two-run seventh inning despite being out-hit 11-to-5 – 3-2 when STMU connected on a single to left-center field that scored a base runner at second.
Keith Vasquez, who took over in the seventh inning for Incarnate Word, took the loss (4-4).
UIW starter Kirk Jewasko had a no decision after six innings where he gave up seven hits and struck out three Rattlers. The two runs scored against him were unearned.
In the second matchup, both teams combined for just five hits – with UIW getting four knocks.
Catcher Josiah Rodriguez scored the game’s only run in the fifth inning, leading off with a double to right-center. After Hector Flores was walked, Tyler Jett bunted to move Rodriguez and Flores forward to third and second. It was then that STMU pitcher Scott Shimek lost control and threw a wild pitch that scored Rodriguez and move Flores to third.
UIW was unable to move Flores home from third afterwards, however, and the score remained 1-0.
Cardinals’ ace Chris Armijo improved his record to 10-0 on the season, fanning five Rattlers and walking just one.
With both teams getting a win on Friday, UIW can do no worse than remain in second place after the dust settles around conference ballparks tonight. Texas-Permian Basin was atop the standings when the afternoon began, but the scores of their games against Lincoln University (in seventh place with a sub-.500 record) had not been reported as of this report.
UIW and STMU have played six of the seven head-to-head matchups for the 2009 season, with Incarnate Word winning four of those games, giving UIW the series advantage no matter what happens in Saturday’s series finale. Despite this, the Cardinals need a victory to close the gap with Permian Basin before the Falcons travel to Sullivan Field next weekend for a three-game series.
Saturday’s game is slated to start at 1 p.m. at V.J. Keefe Memorial Stadium.
CARDS SCORE SEVEN UNANSWERED FOR COMEBACK WIN -- posted Tuesday, April 21 2009
The University of the Incarnate Word baseball team came back from a three-run deficit in the ninth inning to defeat Tarleton State University, 8-7, in the final non-conference game of the 2009 season on Tuesday night.
UIW (30-13 overall, 26-10 in the Heartland Conference) were down y as many as six runs, 7-1, before scoring seven unanswered runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings.
The ninth inning started off with the Cardinals hitting into a groundout and a fly out and looked as though Tarleton State would hold on, but all that changed when leadoff man Tyler Hicks singled past the shortstop.
From there, Drew Hamilton belted a double into right center that scored Hicks and then Chris Pacheco reached base after getting hit by a pitch. With two Cardinals on the bases, Reno Malay connected on a double that scored both Hamilton and Pacheco to tie the score at 7-7.
With Malay on second representing the winning run, Trey Hogan hit a single into the left field and Malay rounded third for the 8-7 lead.
Tarleton then had three outs to try and get a tying run or two runs for the win, but Tommy Salas came in and pitched one inning for the save – walking one batter, but getting two Texans to ground out and another to hit a pop-up into foul territory which was caught near the right field line.
The save was the third of the year for Salas. The win went to Alfredo Caballero, who pitched the eighth inning in relief, striking out one batter.
The UIW bullpen earned the win with five pitcher working less than two innings each. Caballero, Salas and Paul Brancheau each kept Tarleton scoreless during their time on the mound, while Ethan Lutz came into the game during the fifth inning, stopped the bleeding and pitched a scoreless sixth.
All that remains for the Cardinals now are three Heartland Conference series. This Friday and Saturday, second-place UIW heads across town to St. Mary’s University for three games (a seven inning and a nine inning game on Friday and a nine-inning game on Saturday).
Then, the Cardinals play host to first place Texas Permian Basin (28-10 in conference) and fourth-place St. Edward’s University (24-15 in conference) in the final games of the 2009 season.
UIW is vying for the Heartland Conference title because the winner of the conference gets an automatic bid into the NCAA Division II Baseball Tournament.
CARDINALS FINISH SERIES SWEEP AGAINST OPSU -- posted Sunday, April 19 2009
Keith Vasquez struck out nine batters and pitched seven innings for a 9-0 no-hitter victory over OPSU on Sunday
The quest for first place in Heartland Conference baseball got a little more interesting for the University of the Incarnate Word on Sunday after UIW completed a series sweep in Sunday’s doubleheader at Sullivan Field with 10-0 and 9-0 victories over visiting Oklahoma Panhandle State University.
The Cardinals had already won a doubleheader on Saturday, so with Sunday’s two wins, Incarnate Word now has a 26-10 conference record (29-13 overall) and is only two games behind first place Texas Permian Basin (28-10 conference, 32-12 overall).
Sunday’s wins extended OPSU’s losing skid to 39 straight contests – the Aggies having won only their first game of the season.
In the second contest, Cardinal starting pitcher Keith Vasquez went the entire seven innings for the no-hitter, striking out nine batters while the Incarnate Word bats drove in nine runs on 11 hits for a 9-0 win.
It is the first no-hitter thrown by a Cardinals pitcher all season and the seventh shutout win.
UIW jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first and pushed their lead to 6-0 in the second, giving Vasquez, who only walked two batters, more than enough run-support.
It was the second straight win in a row against conference opponents for the freshman and the most K’s in a game, beating his previous high of five set against UTPB. It is also the second time Vasquez has gone all seven innings in a matchup (the first a 4-1 win at home against St Mary’s) – both resulting in wins for UIW.
In the first matchup, UIW jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning in a game that lacked energy and atmosphere until the Cardinal pitching staff decided to inject some life into the game.
After Josiah Rodrguez sent a single into center field to start the fifth inning, the entire UIW bullpen became alive with cheering and noise from the Cardinal pitchers. The loud chants and cheers continued as Tyler Jett launched a double and Tyler Hicks belted out a sacrifice fly to score Rodriguez. Jett came home when Drew Hamilton hit a double and Hamilton scored when Reno Malay hit a single to center field and Chris Pacheco, who had reached on a walk, preoccupied the Aggies fielders by getting into a rundown between second and third.
Through all this, UIW’s pitching staff cheered and razzed OPSU’s pitcher and helped wake up the crowd. At the end of the game, Nathaniel Ramirez had pitched five shutout innings with eight strikeouts for his fourth win of the year. Jake Smith and Alfredo Caballero each batted an inning of relief, keeping the Aggies off the scoreboard to preserve the 10-0 shutout victory.
The wins give Incarnate Word a four-game winning streak before facing the other three of the top four teams in the Heartland Conference before the end of the season. After a Tuesday trip to Tarleton State (which UIW beat 10-4 at Sullivan Field earlier in the season), the Cardinals travel across town to take on St. Mary’s University for a three-game series. It starts with a Friday doubleheader (one seven-inning game, one nine) and concludes with a nine-inning matchup on Saturday. STMU is currently in third place in the conference with a 23-10 record and lost three-of-four to UIW when the Rattlers visited Sullivan Field earlier in the year.
Following the STMU series, UIW will then play host to UTPB and St. Edward’s University on consecutive weekends – with each game having an impact on if the Cardinals make it into the post-season.
CARDINALS POUR ON 27 RUNS, STRIKE OUT 24 -- posted Saturday, April 18 2009
In two games, the University of the Incarnate Word baseball team scored 27 runs, surrendered none and improved their Heartland Conference record to 24-10 with 9-0 and 18-0 victories over Oklahoma Panhandle State University in a doubleheader on Saturday at Sullivan Field.
Cardinals pitcher Kirk Jewasko improved his personal record to 5-2 with a five-inning, 10-strikeout performance. Felix Reta and Ethan Lutz pitched the sixth and seventh innings, striking out two batters apiece, respectively to wrap-up the shutout conference win.
UIW scored four runs in the first inning on five hits, the surge starting with a Drew Hamilton walk. Hamilton reached third following a Chris Pacheco single into right field and crossed home plate on a sacrifice fly by Reno Malay for the only run Incarnate Word would need for the win.
Pacheco would score on an RBI single by Josh Hood. Hood and Trey Hogan both scored to put UIW up 4-0 in the first on a Richard Torres single into right field.
The Cardinals added five more runs before the final out of the first game of the doubleheader.
In the second contest, Chris Armijo pitched five innings with eight strikeouts for his ninth win of the year. Paul Brancheau and Trey McCarty both pitched an inning of relief to preserve the shutout victory.
At the plate, UIW belted out 18 hits for 18 runs, including three doubles, six of those runs coming in the first inning.
The one sided affair continued the woes of OPSU, which is 1-37 on the season and 0-33 in the conference, by extending their losing streak to 37 games – the Aggies having won only their first game of the year.
Both teams will be back at Sullivan Field on Sunday for another conference doubleheader, scheduled to begin at noon.
CHANGES ANNOUNCED FOR WEEKEND MATCHUP VS OPSU -- posted Wednesday, April 15 2009
This weekend's Heartland Conference baseball matchups between University of the Incarnate Word and Oklahoma Panhandle State were moved back a day due to expected poor weather in the San Antonio area.
Under the new schedule, UIW (25-13) plays host to OPSU on Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at noon.
CARDS DROP ROAD GAME AGAINST ANGELO STATE -- posted Tuesday, April 14 2009
The University of the Incarnate Word Cardinals took a quick road trip to San Angelo on Tuesday afternoon to face Angelo State University – a team that UIW had defeated 10-8 back on February 10th at Sullivan Field.
This time, the Rams got the better of UIW, beating Incarnate Word 16-7 in a non-conference game.
UIW (25-13) took a 1-0 lead in the first inning, and then had to try and play catch-up after the second inning when ASU took a 5-2 lead thanks to a two-run single and a bases-loaded walk.
Starting pitcher Paul Brancheau went two innings, giving up five earned runs and taking the loss. UIW used six pitchers.
The Cardinals will be back at Sullivan Field on Friday and Saturday this weekend, playing two doubleheaders against visiting Oklahoma Panhandle State University – a Heartland Conference opponent that has won one game all season.
If UIW can sweep OPSU and then take care of business the rest of the season, the Cardinals still have a chance to win the conference and earn the automatic bid into the NCAA post-season.
Friday’s doubleheader starts at 1 p.m. while Saturday’s action is slated to begin at noon.
CARDINALS SWEEP HOME SERIES AGAINST INTERNATIONAL -- posted Saturday, April 11 2009
Coming back home to Sullivan Field turned out to be a good thing for the University of Incarnate Word baseball team this weekend, as the Cardinals won the last of three games on Saturday, 5-0, to give UIW the three-game sweep over Texas A&M International.
The Heartland Conference victory puts UIW in third place behind Texas-Permian Basin and St. Mary’s University in first and second, respectively. Both teams will face UIW (25-12 overall, 22-10 in conference) before the season ends, giving the Cardinals a head-to-head opportunity to take first before the season’s end and earn the automatic bid into the NCAA Division II post-season.
Saturday’s matchup saw starting pitcher Nathaniel Ramirez improve his record to 4-1 with a four-strikeout, 6 1/3-inning performance in which the junior walked only one batter and allowed just three hits and no runs.
Freshman reliever Keith Vasquez came into the contest with Incarnate Word up 3-0 in the seventh and struck out three Dustdevils (15-26, 13-22) without allowing a run earn his second save of the season and give the Cardinal pitching staff a shutout.
At the plate, freshman Hector Flores went 2-for-3 with a single and a triple while scoring a run and batting in another. UIW shortstop Tyler Jett hit a pair of singles in four trips to the plate, getting two RBIs in the process, while left fielder and leadoff hitter Tyler Hicks went 2-for-5 with an RBI double.
UIW scored three runs in the fourth and one in the seventh and eighth innings. The three runs scored in the fourth started after Josh Hood was walked. Flores ripped his triple into the gap in right-center, scoring Hood and then scored himself when Jett knocked a single into center. Hicks then brought in Jett with his double and UIW led 3-0.
The Cardinals will be back on the road Tuesday night against Angelo State (5 p.m., San Angelo) before returning home to face Oklahoma Panhandle State in a pair of conference doubleheaders on April 17-18. Friday’s doubleheader starts at 1 p.m. and Saturday’s is slated for a noon first pitch.
Both doubleheaders will consist of seven-inning games. UIW defeated OPSU in all three games the Cardinals played up in Oklahoma back in February.
BACK AT SULIVAN, CARDINALS WIN TWO VS. TAMIU -- posted Friday, April 10 2009
Chris Armijo improved his record to 8-0 by striking out 12 Dustdevils in 8 1/3 innings on Friday.
After multiple weeks on the road, the Incarnate Word Cardinals played host at Sullivan Field in a Heartland Conference doubleheader against Texas A&M International University, with UIW winning both games over the Dustdevils.
Kirk Jewasko pitched a complete game in the first part of the doubleheader in a 2-1 victory, improving his personal record to 4-1 on the season, with four strikeouts and only walking two.
UIW (24-12, 21-10) fell behind 1-0 in the first, but then scored twice in the third inning. Hector Flores hit a single and then advanced to second on a single by Tyler Hicks. Flores then advanced to third on a single by Drew Hamilton. Flores scored the tying run when Chris Pacheco hit a fielder’s choice towards second, forcing the Dustdevil infield to force-out Hamilton at second while Hicks advanced to third.
Hicks scored the go-ahead run when Reno Malay put a single out into left field.
The 2-1 lead was all UIW would need for the victory.
In the second matchup, Cardinal’s ace Chris Armijo improved his record to 8-0 by pitching 8 1/3 innings in a 6-3 win in which the senior struck out 12 batters.
UIW scored three runs in the fifth and eighth innings and while Armijo tried to go the entire nine innings, but he eventually left the game with the bases loaded, one out on the scoreboard and a 6-2 lead.
Matt Hickman wrapped things up, getting a strikeout and a groundout for the final two outs and his first save of the year.
Second baseman Josh Hood went 3-for-4 at the plate, scoring two runs.
The Cardinals face the Dustdevils again on Saturday in a nine-inning Heartland Conference game at noon.
CARD'S ARMIJO NAMED PITCHER OF THE WEEK -- posted Wednesday, April 8 2009
Senior pitcher Chris Armijo was named the Pitcher of the Week by the Heartland Conference on Tuesday.
Incarnate Word senior pitcher Chris Armijo was named the Heartland Conference Pitcher of the Week by the league offices on Tuesday.
Armijo, a San Antonio native from Highlands, earned the honor for his road victory over Newman University this past weekend – a complete game where he allowed only one run against on just four hits and struck out 11 batters.
The left hander’s ERA of 1.60 is tops in the conference, while his 7-0 record has him tied for the most wins in the Heartland.
He was named the co-Pitcher of the Week back on March 18th.
Armijo and the Cardinals are 22-12 overall on the season and 19-10 in conference play, putting UIW in fourth place. With an automatic bid into the post-season on the line for whichever school finishes first at the end of the regular season, Incarnate Word faces the last stretch of the year with more games at Sullivan Field than on the road.
The run for the playoffs begins this weekend on Friday when Texas A&M International University (14-23, 13-19) comes to town for a 2 p.m. doubleheader (seven innings for the first game, a possible nine in the second) and then play a nine-inning game at noon on Saturday.
After the Dustdevils leave town, UIW will take a quick trip to San Angelo on April 14 for a Tuesday night game against Angelo State University.
That same week, the Cardinals return to San Antonio to play how to Oklahoma Panhandle State University – currently sitting last in the conference with a 1-32 overall record and a 0-28 conference mark.
The next week, UIW travels to Tarleton State on April 21 and then finishes up its cross-town rivalry series against St. Mary’s University with three games on the Rattlers’ home field on April 24-25.
Incarnate Word finishes up the regular season with two home series against Texas-Permian Basin (currently first in the Heartland with a 22-9 record) and St. Edward’s University (22-10).
The final three series of the season are against teams that are first-through-third in the Heartland Conference and will decide the Cardinals’ post-season fate.
UIW, NEWMAN SPLITS ANOTHER DOUBLEHEADER -- posted Saturday, April 4 2009
The UIW baseball team split a Heartland Conference doubleheader for the second time in as many days on Saturday, taking the first game against Newman University, 18-2, and then losing the second game 9-4.
In the first contest, five different Cardinals hit homeruns – Chris Pacheco, Reo Malay, Trey Hogan, Drew Hamilton and Josh Hood – while Nathaniel Ramirez struck out eight and threw six innings for his fourth win of the year (4-2).
In the second half of the afternoon’s games, however, UIW again gave up a big inning – this time allowing nine runs to score after getting two outs in the fifth inning en route to the 9-4 loss.
UIW (22-12, 19-10) had 10 hits, but committed two errors. Keith Vasquez took the loss.
The Cardinals will be back home at 2 p.m. Friday for a home doubleheader against Texas A&M International University.
UIW SPLITS ROAD GAME ON THE ROAD VS. NEWMAN -- posted Friday, April 3 2009
The University of the Incarnate Word split Friday’s Heartland Conference doubleheader on Friday on the road against Newman University, losing 7-6 in the first game and taking a 7-1 decision in the second game.
UIW (21-11, 18-9) had a 6-0 lead over the Jets in the first game, but the home team staged a comeback – scoring five runs in the bottom of the third for the tie – and got the game-winning run across home with two outs in the bottom of the sixth.
In the second contest, the Cardinals rode the three-hit, one run complete game (seven innings) of Chris Armijo while belting out 13 hits for the 7-1 win.
Armijo had 11 strikeouts and improves his season record to 7-0.
The Cardinals and Jets have another pair of seven-inning Heartland Conference games scheduled for Saturday, starting at noon.
UIW LOSES TWO, FALLS OUT OF FIRST IN HEARTLAND -- posted Saturday, March 21 2009
In Saturday’s Heartland Conference doubleheader in Austin against St. Edward’s University, the No. 22-ranked Incarnate Word baseball team was unable to get the runs needed to defeat the Hilltoppers on the road and dropped both games, 4-3 and 9-6.
The losses drop UIW (20-10 overall, 17-8 Heartland Conference) from first place to third – in a tie with SEU (18-11, 17-8).
Nathaniel Ramirez went 5 2/3 innings for his first loss of the season. He struck out two Hilltoppers, but walked six.
With the score tied, 2-2, going into the sixth inning, St. Edward’s tied the game with a solo homerun after Ramirez struck out the first two batters of the inning. After a pitching change, SEU connected on a single into left field to bring home another run for a 4-2 lead.
UIW scored a run in the top of the seventh after Reno Malay hit a single into right field that brought home Tyler Jett. However, with two men left on, Gideon Williams flied out to end the game, 4-3.
In the second game, Incarnate Word jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the second inning, but SEU battled back cutting the lead to 6-5 in the third and then taking a 9-6 lead in the bottom of the sixth with a three run, three hit effort.
Alfredo Caballero had his first loss of the year for the Cardinals.
Incarnate Word will have a week to regroup and prepare for another Heartland Conference series, heading to Missouri for a three-game showdown against Lincoln University, starting on Friday.
CARDINALS. HILLTOPPERS SPLIT GAMES IN AUSTIN -- posted Saturday, March 21 2009
In their first of three consecutive road series against Heartland Conference teams, the Incarnate Word Cardinals split Friday’s doubleheader against St. Edward’s University with a 4-3 loss and a 4-3 win in Austin.
Both games saw multiple lead-changes and runs that had to be manufactured as the No. 22-rankd Cardinals improved to 20-8 overall and 17-6 in the Heartland Conference.
In the first game, the Hilltoppers lead UIW, 3-2, in the top of the sixth. Matt Roohan led off with a single up the middle and then was advanced to second base on a balk. After UIW struck out and flied out for two outs, Hector Flores connected on an RBI single to right field to score Roohan and tie the game, 3-3.
SEU, however, won the game in the seventh after an RBI triple to right field scored a baserunner from first base, 4-3.
Kirk Jewasko (3-1) pitched 6 and a 1/3 innings with six strikeouts and was given the loss, his first of the year.
In the second game, the Cardinals jumped out to an early 3-0 lead over the first two innings, but St. Edward’s chipped away to tie things up, 3-3, in the bottom of the sixth.
With the score tied, Tyler Hicks led off the inning with a single and was moved to second thanks to a sack bunt by Drew Hamilton. With first base open, the Hilltoppers walked Chris Pacheco – and then saw both Pacheco and Hicks steal second and third, respectively, to put the two Cardinal players in scoring position. From there, Reno Malay was walked to load the bases and Trey Hogan was sent to the plate as a pinch-hitter. An SEU pitching change didn’t help things much, as Hogan was walked to bring home Hicks as the leading run.
Josh Hood then made contact and reached on a fielder’s choice, since the play was made at home to stop Pacheco from scoring. The inning ended on a force out at second base and UIW left three players on-base with a 4-3 lead.
St. Edward’s University was nearly able to bring home the runs it needed to tie the game or win it by loading the bases on two singles and a walk, but an infield pop fly and then a 4-6-3 double play ended the game.
Chris Armijo earned the win with a 6-inning, 5 strikeout performance to improve his record to a team-leading 6-0. Keith Vasquez pitched the seventh for the save, his first of the year.
Malay extended his hitting streak to 15 games in the first contest, but saw his streak come to an end in the second part of the double dip, going 0-for-3.
The Cardinals and Hilltoppers have another doubleheader on Saturday, starting at 1 p.m. Both games will be seven inning contests.
ARMIJO WINS HONOR AS UIW'S NEW RANKINGS RELEASED -- posted Wednesday, March 18 2009
Senior pitcher Chris Armijo was named the Heartland Conference co-Pitcher of the Week on Wednesday by the league office. His 5-0 record leads the team, as does his 1.69 ERA.
UIW senior Chris Armijo was recognized as the Heartland Conference co-Pitcher of the Week on Wednesday.
Armijo, a right-handed San Antonio native, improved his season record to 5-0 by going seven complete innings against Texas-Permian Basin in an 11-1 victory over the Falcons this past Sunday. In seven innings of work, the senior allowed only two hits and one earned run – improving his ERA to 1.69 (leading the Cardinals) and helping UIW reclaim first place in the conference.
Tim Laine of St. Edward’s was also recognized for his work on the mound.
In addition to Armijo’s honor, the Cardinals remained ranked in both polls listed on NCAA.com.
In the Division II Collegiate Baseball Poll, UIW fell from 19th to 22nd after losses to Abilene Christian and Texas-Permian Basin last week – but two wins over the Falcons on Sunday kept the Cardinals from falling out of the Top 30.
In the NCBWA Division II Poll, the Cardinals dropped from 14th to 21st.
UIW faces three weekend series against Heartland Conference teams on the road before spending the last few weeks of the season in San Antonio.
CARDINALS STAGE COMEBACK TO DEFEAT TARLETON -- posted Tuesday, March 17 2009
Matt Roohan's double in the sixth inning extended his team-leading hitting streak to 15 games.
After winning two on the road in Laredo on Sunday to take first place back in the Heartland Conference, the Incarnate Word baseball team returned home to Sullivan Field for a non-conference matchup with Tarleton State on Tuesday, coming back from a 4-2 deficit late in the contest for a 10-4 victory.
UIW (19-7 overall) sent multiple pitchers to the mound in the victory and in the end, Matt Hickman earned his second win of the season after coming into the contest in the sixth inning and ending a small rally by the Texans (12-15-1) by getting two outs.
Hickman went 1.2 innings – giving up one hit, while surrendering no runs, striking out one batter and forcing Tarleton’s batter to hit into two groundouts and two fly outs.
When Hickman helped stopped the Texan offense, the UIW bats came alive in the sixth, scoring four runs on three hits – including a double by first baseman Matt Roohan, who extended his team-leading hitting streak to 15 games.
In the next inning, the Cardinals scored four more runs, three of which coming off of a home run for Reno Malay (his fourth of the season), on three more hits.
In both the sixth and the seventh inning, Tarleton committed errors that kept UIW alive. Cardinals head coach Danny Heep – who saw his own team squander a 6-0 lead last week thanks to errors – said his team made the most of those mistakes, and pointed out that the Tarleton team that came to San Antonio was a tired group of players.
“They didn’t play very well,” Heep said. “They made some errors and gave up a few walks. This team played 21 innings yesterday, and you could tell that they weren’t into it like they normally would be.
“We had our opportunities and we hit and made some pitches.”
Tuesday’s win keeps UIW on a three-game win streak going into three straight weekends of Heartland Conference matchups on the road. This weekend’s trip will be to St. Edward’s University in Austin for two doubleheaders (Friday and Saturday, starting at noon both days) of seven-inning games. After that, it’ll be a trip to Lincoln University and the first weekend of April will put the Cardinals in Kansas to face Newman University.
“They’re just going to have to suck it up – that’s all there is to it,” Heep said. “As soon as they start whining and being tired, we’re going to start losing and we can’t afford that. If we can get through the next three weeks on the road, then we don’t leave San Antonio. You have to play some of these games on the road.”
Heep says his team knows what it has to do to return home to Sullivan Field with first place still in-hand.
“Everybody is beating everybody and nobody is really running away with it,” Heep said. “Everyone is struggling a bit and trying to score runs. I just told my guys that we have to win the series. If it’s a three-game set, win two. If it’s a four-game set, try and get three or four. That’s the most important thing when it is this close.”
CARDINALS BOUNCE BACK, RETAKE FIRST PLACE -- posted Sunday, March 15 2009
After Saturday’s 11-inning Heartland Conference loss on the road to Texas-Permian Basin due to costly errors, the Incarnate Word baseball team responded with two wins over the Falcons, 11-1 and 4-3, in a doubleheader in Laredo on Sunday to reclaim first place in the Heartland Conference and get the team out of its losing skid.
In the first game of the doubleheader, the Cardinals (18-7, 16-5) connected on 17 hits, including two doubles by Josh Hood and one by Matt Roohan and simply overwhelmed the UTPB pitching staff (which went through four pitchers).
Meanwhile UIW’s starter – Chris Armijo – went seven complete innings, giving up just one earned run and two hits, en route to his team-leading fifth win of the year.
In the second contest, the Cardinals had to manufacture their runs, scoring the go-ahead run in the eighth when Hector Flores started things off with a double. He then beat out a throw by UTPB’s pitcher to third base on a SAC bunt-attempt by Tyler Jett and came home when Tyler Hicks hit into a 6-4-3 double play with no outs – allowing Flores to reach home while Jett and Hicks were thrown out on the bases.
In the ninth, UIW held on with Keith Vasquez going the final five innings for his third win of the year (3-2) and the Incarnate Word victory.
UTPB (17-7, 14-6) fell form first place to second place, switching spots with the Cardinals, after the two losses.
UIW returns home to Sullivan Field on Tuesday for a nine-inning showdown against Tarleton State at 3 p.m.
ERRORS DOOM BASEBALL TEAM AGAINST UTPB -- posted Saturday, March 14 2009
With their scheduled games against Texas-Permian Basin being pushed back to Saturday and Sunday, the Incarnate Word baseball team had an extra day to prepare for their Heartland Conference foe, but despite another productive effort by pitcher Kirk Jewasko, six UIW errors doomed the Cardinals to an 8-7 loss in the 11-inning game.
Jewasko pitched nine and a third innings – seven of which were a no-hitter before a single in the eighth ruined the opportunity – before being replaced by Keith Vasquez.
UIW (16-7, 14-4 in the Heartland Conference) led 6-0 going into the bottom of the ninth before UTPB scored six runs to tie the game and send it into extra innings.
Those six runs, coming on five hits, were aided by two errors. The second error – a misplayed fly ball – happened with two outs on the scoreboard and was the play that allowed UTPB to keep the game going. After the dropped fly ball, the Falcons scored five runs.
Both teams scored a run in the 10th, but Incarnate Word was unable to bring Matt Roohan home after the first baseman doubled to lead off the 11th inning – two of UIW’s batters striking out and the other flying out to center.
UTPB, however, was able to bring home it’s first batter, who reached base on an error, with a sacrifice bunt and a single down the left field line.
Now, after having lost two games, the Cardinals must rebound for a doubleheader today to finish off the weekend series. The first game will be seven innings, the second will be nine innings.
CARDINALS CAN'T GET THINGS GOING AGAINST TAMU-K -- posted Tuesday, March 10 2009
Fresh off a series against Heartland Conference and cross-town rival St. Mary’s University this past weekend, the University of the Incarnate Word baseball team earned a No. 19 ranking in Division II baseball and was playing with a lot of confidence with Texas A&M University – Kingsville coming to Sullivan Field on Tuesday night.
Having already beaten TAMU-K once this season (13-5 in Kingsville), Incarnate Word soon found itself unable to do much of anything against the visiting Javelinas who jumped out to a 3-0 lead early and never let the Cardinals get closer than three runs before blowing the game open late and taking a 10-3 decision against the ranked Cardinals.
UIW falls to 16-6 on the year, while TAMU-Kingsville improves to 8-11 on the year. The Javelinas connected on 14 hits to UIW’s 10 and had nine RBIs to Incarnate Word’s three.
Pitching-wise, both teams had three walks and UIW actually had one more walk (three) than the Javelinas – but three fielding errors for the Cardinals helped the visitors continue innings and bring in more runs.
UIW’s Paul Brancheau took the loss.
The lone bright spot for Incarnate Word was that first baseman Matt Roohan continued his hitting streak, increasing it to 11 games with a single in the sixth inning. Incarnate Word’s longest hitting streak of the season belongs to Reno Malay, whose 13-game tear ended in the second game of last Friday’s doubleheader against St. Mary’s University.
Now, after having dropped a game to an opponent with a losing record fresh after being ranked in the top 20, the Cardinals will have to both rebound and make a statement while on the road against Heartland member Texas-Permian Basin for a three-game series in Laredo.
Friday features a doubleheader of seven and nine-inning games, starting at 1 p.m. Saturday is a nine-inning matchup that begins at noon.
CARDS, RATTLER SPLIT SATURDAY DOUBLE DIP -- posted Saturday, March 7 2009
Keith Vasquez earned his second win of the year by going seven innings and striking out four batters on Saturday
The 25th-ranked University of the Incarnate Word baseball team out-played the 26th-ranked St. Mary’s University Rattlers for 13 innings on Saturday in a Heartland Conference doubleheader at Sullivan Field comprised of two seven-inning matchups.
That one inning where STMU out-did the Cardinals was a ten-run fifth inning in the first game of the doubleheader that saw 10 runs on 9 hits come off the bats of the Rattlers – including two home runs by David Vaio.
Until that surge by STMU, Incarnate Word had been leading the game, 7-2.
Eventually, STMU would cruise on to victory in the first game, 14-9.
In the second game, however, Keith Vasquez earned his second win of the season by going seven complete innings for the 4-1 victory. He struck out four Rattlers and allowed just five hits.
Offensively, UIW connected on just seven hits – but a two-run home run by Reno Malay in the fifth put the Cardinals out of reach for STMU and Incarnate Word ended the day with another victory (16-5 overall) and sole control of first place in the Heartland Conference with a 14-4 record.
The home run was Malay’s third of the year.
UIW returns to Sullivan Field on Tuesday for a 5 p.m. matchup against Texas A&M-Kingsville, which the Cardinals have already defeated once this season, 13-6, in Kingsville on February 17.
No. 25 CARDINALS TAKE FIRST DOUBLEHEADER VS. RATTLERS -- posted Friday, March 6 2009
Reno Malay's single in the 8th inning of the first game of Friday's doubleheader led to three runs being scored for an 8-7 win. In the second game, UIW beat the Rattlers, 5-0
In the first baseball doubleheader happening this weekend at Sullivan Field this weekend featuring No. 25-ranked Incarnate Word and No. 26-ranked St. Mary’s University, the Cardinals fought back in extra innings in the first contest and then rode the stellar pitching performance of Chris Armijo for two victories over their cross-town rivals.
UIW (15-4 overall, 13-3 in the Heartland Conference) trailed early and trailed twice in the first game between the top two teams in the Heartland Conference, forcing the game into extra innings and then winning in dramatic fashion in the bottom of the 8th after surrendering three runs to STMU (13-7, 11-5).
Down 7-4 with an out against them in the bottom half of the eighth, Incarnate Word got some life when catcher Josiah Rodriguez got on base with a walk and then third baseman John Zule got on first after being hit by a pitch.
St. Mary’s made a pitching change, putting Jonathan Perez into the game, and Incarnate Word’s Tyler Hicks ripped a single to score Rodriguez. Hicks and Zule both would advance on a wild pitch by Perez and then Drew Hamilton filled the empty space at first when Perez walked him. With the bases loaded, however, Chris Pacheco struck out and put UIW in a two-out hole.
It was then that Reno Malay for Incarnate Word hit a single to shallow right field that died near the foul line. Hamilton scored from third on the hit, but an error in the outfield while trying to bring the ball in to throw back to home allowed both Hicks and Zule to score and gave UIW the 8-7 win.
“That first game, when you look at it you think that’s a game we should have lost,” UIW head coach Danny Heep said. “But we had a few breaks at the end of the game that kept us in it and then the error that brought in the winning runs.”
The second game of the day featured UIW’s Armijo – 3-0 on the season – against STMU’s ace Scott Shimek who also had an undefeated record at 4-0.
Armijo torched the Rattlers for eight strikeouts and just three walks in seven complete innings. UIW’s offense chipped away at Shimek in the first and the fourth for a 2-0 lead, but a three-run home run by Hicks in the bottom of the sixth sealed the deal for the 5-0 win.
“Armijo just did a great job,” Heep said. “Their guy, Shimek, did well too but it was one of those things where we got a few runs out front. Armijo just had all his breaking stuff going.”
Armijo’s fourth win of the year was a shutout win. He leads the team in wins.
Now, after two hard-fought wins over St. Mary’s, Incarnate Word has to turn around and play the Rattlers in two more games tomorrow at Sullivan Field.
The pair of seven-inning games are scheduled to start at 1 p.m.
PACHECO'S BAT EARNS HIM HITTER OF THE WEEK AWARD -- posted Thursday, March 5 2009
Senior centerfielder Chris Pacheco was named the Heartland Conference Hitter of the Week.
Incarnate Word’s baseball team earned its first weekly honor of the 2009 season this week as starting centerfielder, Chris Pacheco, was named the Heartland Conference Hitter of the Week.
Pacheco went on a tear against Oklahoma Panhandle State this past weekend, connecting on 11 hits in 13 at-bats for 9 RBI in 18-2, 12-2 and 19-5 conference victories on the road for UIW.
The senior, whose batting average now sits at .581 to lead the team, scored seven runs and stole two bases offensively for the Cardinals. In the field, he was flawless (he has one error in 17 games this season) and helped on three put-outs.
Pacheco and his teammates play host to No. 26-ranked St. Mary’s University on Friday and Saturday in two doubleheaders. The Cardinals, ranked No. 25, have a half-game lead over the Rattlers (13-5, 11-4) for first place in the Heartland Conference.
B.J. Valdez of Texas A&M International University and Brett Friemel of St. Edward’s University were named co-Pitchers of the Week.
CARDINALS, RATTLERS SET FOR SHOWDOWN AT SULLIVAN -- posted Tuesday, March 3 2009
UIW centerfielder Chris Pacheco is currently second in the Heartland Conference with a .551 conference batting average and a .755 conference slugging percentage. Pacheco and his teammates play host to St. Mary's this weekend.
Sullivan Field is about to become a very exciting place.
Starting Friday at 3 p.m., the University of the Incarnate Word baseball team will be playing host to cross-town and Heartland Conference rival St. Mary’s University in four games – a doubleheader on Friday and a doubleheader on Saturday (Saturday’s first game is scheduled to start at 1 p.m.).
The fact that the games will put the Cardinals (13-4 overall, 11-3 in the Heartland Conference) against their long-time rivals, and perennial baseball power, Rattlers should be reason enough to garner interest in the games.
The additional tidbit that UIW is in first place in the conference and St. Mary’s is nipping at the Cardinals’ heels with an 11-4 conference record (13-5 overall), adds more fuel to the fire.
But, it gets better – the Rattlers are ranked No. 26 in the Division II Collegiate Baseball Rankings, released on Monday, while the University of the Incarnate Word is ranked 25th in the same rankings.
Something – if you excuse the expression – has to give.
Incarnate Word is currently riding a three-game winning streak after blasting out 49 runs in three games (only 21 innings) on the road against Oklahoma Panhandle State University last weekend. Meanwhile STMU won just 2-of-3 games on the road against Newman University in Kansas over the same stretch of days, losing the middle game of the trio, 4-1.
That loss is what gave Incarnate Word the half-game lead for tops in the conference.
The two teams are matching up closely statistically as well, with UIW and STMU ranking 1st-and-2nd or 2nd-and-3rd in nearly every offensive statistic in the conference except sacrifice bunts and flies.
Last season, UIW won three games – 16-7, 9-6 and 12-3 – and lost four to St. Mary’s, with two of the Cardinals’ wins coming on STMU’s home field. The Rattlers have a 59-47 series advantage.
UIW DOMINATES PANHANDLE STATE AGAIN, 19-5 -- posted Saturday, February 28 2009
In the last matchup against Oklahoma Panhandle State this weekend on the road, the Incarnate Word baseball team dominated yet again with a 19-5 victory on Saturday afternoon.
Nathaniel Ramirez improved his record to 2-0 with a four-inning appearance, striking out eight batters and only surrendering one earned run.
UIW (13-4, 11-3 in the Heartland Conference) scored 14 unanswered runs in the first three innings before OPSU was able to get a single run across the plate.
Drew Hamilton had two hits and four RBI, while Reno Malay, Matt Roohan and Josh Hood each sent a pitch out of the park for home runs.
Incarnate Word now sits alone in first place in the Heartland Conference with a 15-3 conference record (17-4 overall). St. Mary’s University is in second and Texas-Permian Basin is in third – conference records to be determined as Saturday’s results were not all in.
The Cardinals will enjoy another week of preparation before coming back home to Sullivan Field for doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday against the second-place Rattlers. Friday’s games start at 3 p.m. while Saturday’s doubleheader begins at 1 p.m.
BASEBALL CRUSHES OPSU IN CONFERENCE PLAY -- posted Saturday, February 28 2009
The last time the Cardinal baseball team had taken the field in Heartland Conference competition, Incarnate Word dropped the fourth game of two consecutive doubleheaders to Texas A&M International, 13-1, in Laredo.
A week later, UIW was back in action – this time in Goodwell, Oklahoma, against Oklahoma Panhandle State University. In two games, Incarnate Word scored 30 runs and allowed only 4, beating OPSU 18-2 and 12-2 in a conference doubleheader consisting of a seven-inning and nine-inning game.
In the first game, Kirk Jewasko went five innings, surrendering 2 earned runs while striking out five batters for his third win of the season. Offensively, the top half of UIW’s order – Tyler Hicks, Drew Hamilton, Chris Pacheco, Reno Malay and Matt Roohan – combined for 15 hits and 11 RBIs.
The Cardinals led 3-0 after the top half of the first inning and never trailed in the contest.
In the second game of the doubleheader, Chris Armijo went seven complete innings, striking out seven batters for his third win of the year. On offense, UIW connected on 10 hits for 12 RBI, with Pacheco leading the way with three hits and an RBI in five plate appearances and scoring a run as well.
Pacheco currently leads the team with a .576 batting average.
By leading 12-2 at the end of the seventh, UIW ended the game early on the 10-run mercy rule.
Both teams take the field again at noon for a single nine-inning matchup starting at noon.
UIW LEAVES LAREDO WITH 3 OF 4 POSSIBLE WINS -- posted Saturday, February 21 2009
The Incarnate Word baseball team split Saturday’s doubleheader in Laredo against Texas A&M International University, winning 8-3 and losing 13-1.
In the first game, Nathaniel Ramirez went five innings, striking out three batters and giving up just three runs for his first win of the season. The middle of the Cardinals lineup – Reno Malay (two hits, two RBI, two runs scored), Matt Roohan (three hits, 2 RBI, one run scored) and Trey Hogan (two hits, two RBI) did the most damage with the bats, while Drew Hamilton and Chris Pacheco found their way home for two runs each.
In the second contest, TAMIU (6-7, 5-5 in conference) led 1-0 going into the third inning before scoring four in the third and four in the fourth to blow the game open. Incarnate Word (10-4, 8-3) got its lone run in the top of the fourth when Pacheco found his way home after reaching base on an error, stealing second, and a double by Roohan to bring home his teammate.
Keith Vasquez from Incarnate Word took the loss and falls to 1-1 on the season.
UIW remains on the road next weekend, heading to Oklahoma Panhandle State University for three Heartland Conference games – a doubleheader on Friday and a single, nine-inning matchup on Saturday.
UIW BEATS INTERNATIONAL IN TWO ROAD GAMES -- posted Friday, February 20 2009
In the first Heartland Conference road action for the University of the Incarnate Word baseball team, the Cardinals won both games of a doubleheader in Laredo against Texas A&M International University on Friday – 4-2 and 7-3.
In the first game, Kirk Jewasko pitched a seven-inning gem, striking out nine and allowing just two runs, including a 1-2-3 seventh to preserve the 4-2 lead and get the victory.
Jewasko’s efforts in the seventh came just after Incarnate Word (9-3, 7-2) was able to manufacture three runs in the top of the seventh to take the 4-2 lead.
The offense started when Tyler Jett singled to start the inning and then Tyler Hicks and Drew Hamilton executed consecutive bunts to load the bases. Reno Malay then launched a ball into left field for the sacrifice to bring Jett home. UIW’s next batter, Matt Roohan, was then walked, reloading the bases for a moment before a wild pitch gave Hicks the chance to steal home. Finally, Chris Pacheco pinch hit and flied out to left field for another sacrifice hit, which brought home Hamilton.
The second matchup between the two teams featured far less drama, with Incarnate Word taking a 2-1 lead in the third inning and shutting out the Aggies until the bottom of the seventh when TAMIU got two runs before UIW got the final outs.
Chris Armijo won his second game of the season, pitching six innings with seven strikeouts and allowing only one run.
The Cardinals face off against International again on Saturday, starting at noon.
CARDS BLAST THEIR WAY TO FIRST ROAD WIN -- posted Wednesday, February 18 2009
The Incarnate Word Cardinals had 14 hits and brought home 13 runs for a 13-6 victory over Texas A&M-Kingsville on Tuesday night, improving UIW’s record to 7-3 overall and giving the team its first win on the road in the 2009 season.
The Cardinals’ overall record combined with a 5-2 Heartland Conference mark puts UIW in a three-way tie for first place with Texas-Permian Basin and St. Edward’s University.
Jake Smith pitched 3 1/3 shutout innings, only allowing two hits in 13 batters faced, for his first win of the season.
Matt Roohan and Drew Hamilton both had three RBIs while Hamilton and Chris Pacheco ripped off three hits each – including a triple by Pacheco and a home run by Hamilton.
Incarnate Word never trailed in the contest, taking a 3-0 after the top of the first and upping their output to 10-2 in the top of the third before the Javelinas (4-3) got two more runs home.
The game was stopped in the 2nd inning for nearly 20 minutes as some of the lights went out in the stadium and had to be turned back on.
Next for the Cardinals are two doubleheaders against Heartland Conference member Texas A&M International (5-4, 4-2) starting on Friday. Both sets of seven-inning games start at noon in Laredo.
PITCHING AND HITTING COME TOGETHER FOR SHUTOUT WIN -- posted Saturday, February 14 2009
Nathaniel Ramirez pitched four shutout innings in relief for his first save of the season as UIW beat Newman, 4-0. Ramirez also had five strikeouts.
Following Friday’s Heartland Conference doubleheader where the Incarnate Word bats weren’t able to drive in the needed runs to beat visiting Newman University, the offense started clicking on a cool afternoon at Sullivan Field on Saturday, as UIW beat the Jets, 4-0.
The four runs scored were more than enough to win with great efforts on the pitching mound by starting pitcher Chris Armijo and reliever Nathaniel Ramirez.
Armijo got his first win of the season, pitching five shutout innings, allowing just four hits and striking out five batters. Ramirez, who came on in the sixth, kept the shutout going until the final out – striking out five batters and only allowing two hits in four innings of work for his first save of the season.
Offensively, UIW (6-3 overall, 5-2 in the Heartland Conference) scored one run in the second – after designated hitter Trey Hogan hit a single to right field that brought home Matt Roohan from third, who had reached base on a throwing error.
The one run would turn out to be enough, but the Cardinals added three more runs in the third after leadoff hitter Tyler Hicks dropped a bunt into the grass and beat out the throw to first and Chris Pacheco was walked to put runners on first and second (Hicks advanced to second on a fielder’s choice the batter before Pacheco). It was then that Reno Malay hit a single into left field, bringing home Hicks and moving Pacheco to second. After a groundout to Roohan that advanced Pacheco and Malay, second baseman Josh Hood hit a single that brought home Pacheco and Malay and gave UIW the 4-0 lead.
After nine games, the Cardinal home-stand to start the season is over and the squad will head out on the road for the next eight games – starting with a 3 p.m. matchup in Kingsville, Texas, against Texas A&M-Kingsville on Tuesday.
After playing seven games against conference opponents on the road (four games against Texas A&M International and three against Oklahoma Panhandle State University), Incarnate Word returns home to play host to nationally ranked St. Mary’s University in two doubleheaders on March 6th and 7th.
LACK OF RUNS SPOILS GOOD PITCHING EFFORTS -- posted Friday, February 13 2009
A few days after the Incarnate Word pitching staff had trouble getting anyone out and the Cardinals fought off a comeback bid by the No. 18-ranked Angelo State Rams, the UIW pitchers came to play.
Unfortunately the offense that had been so abundant the last five games had trouble getting runners home, and Incarnate Word dropped two games to visiting Newman University in a Heartland Conference doubleheader on Friday, 4-2 and 5-4.
The first game saw freshman Kirk Jewasko pitch seven complete innings, striking out 10 batters and only surrendering two runs (one earned) for the best outing by a UIW pitcher thus far this year, but when the game, scheduled to go seven innings, went into an extra eighth, Newman (3-3, 3-3) was able to get two runs across the plate against Tommy Salas.
Making matters worse, UIW (5-3, 4-2) had been able to load the bases at their at-bat just before NU scored the two runs, but got nobody home and generated no runs. Then, trailing by two in the bottom of the eighth, Incarnate Word left a man stranded at second and flew out to end the game.
In the second half of the double dip, Newman jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the third inning, but UIW tied it at 3-3 in the fourth. The Jets then scored twice in the fifth by getting three hits – a triple and two singles – and then held off another Incarnate Word rally attempt, and left two Cardinals standing on the bags.
UIW pitcher Paul Brancheau then came and held Newman scoreless for the next two half-innings, striking out one in the sixth and the side in the seventh – giving UIW every chance he could to pull off the comeback.
Following a fly out to deep right-center field by Drew Hamilton to start the inning, Cardinals centerfielder Chris Pacheco got on base after being hit by a pitch and moved into scoring position following a Reno Malay single. It was there that things unraveled for Incarnate Word – Matt Roohan popped out to centerfield and then Pacheco was forced out at third when Trey Hogan hit a ground ball right to the Newman third baseman.
Incarnate Word will have to rebound from Friday’s disappointing losses and get a conference win on Saturday against the Jets in a nine-inning matchup starting at noon.
CARDINALS OVERCOME PITCHING WOES FOR WIN -- posted Tuesday, February 10 2009
Consistent hitting has become an early theme for the University of the Incarnate Word baseball team. Tuesday’s 10-8 victory over visiting No. 18 Angelo State University was a prime example of how the Cardinals (5-1 overall) have been able to get timely hits and generate offense for the last five games en route to a five-game win streak.
But head coach Danny Heep says that it’s going to take more than good defense and good hitting if UIW wants to be successful this season – his team’s pitchers are going to have to start being consistent in the even that the Cardinal bats have an off night.
“Offensively I thought we hit the ball well. I thought defensively we played well – but I’m looking at the stat sheet and I’ve got 10 walks… we have to be better than that,” Heep said simply. “Hit batters and throwing strikes – that was our problem today.”
With a 4-0 lead in the first inning, the Cardinals surrendered three runs in the second and three more in the third to fall back, 6-5. In the two innings, UIW pitchers allowed six runs, four hits, walked four batters and hit an Angelo State batter.
Eventually, Incarnate Word’s Matt Hickman came in and fought through some tough situations for 5.2 innings to earn him his first win of the season. Tommy Salas wrapped up the last 1.1 innings for the save.
Heep was happy for the win, but still somewhat irritated over what his team had to overcome to get it.
“I’m upset because we jump out, and then they come back and get three runs,” Heep said. “So we’ve lost our momentum. And then we come back and score two more, and then we give up three more – and we’ve lost our momentum. That just kills a team offensively if they feel like they have to score that many runs. It puts too much pressure on our offense.
“I knew coming into this season that this team was going to be a singles-hitting team and a contact-hitting team,” Heep continued. “We’re not going to be a team that’s going to go and put up 10, 11, 12 runs a game. If we have to do that, it’s going to be a long season.”
Twice in the game, with ASU (4-3) base runners at third base, Incarnate Word catcher Josiah Rodriguez was able to throw out potential runs – the same deficit that UIW won by.
“They (Angelo State) made a couple of base-running mistakes late in the game that hurt them, but I’m not so sure we still wouldn’t be playing if it wasn’t for a couple of third-base mistakes,” Heep said. “They just got mixed up. I don’t think they were running anything – it was just a mental mistake by their base runners. It’s more of a luck thing at that point. It was nothing that we did, it was more their mental mistake that really cost them from at least tying the game.”
Now having won five straight games, the Cardinals will play three more games at Sullivan Field this week before their first road trip of the season, starting on Friday with a doubleheader (seven-inning first game, nine-inning second game) and then a nine-inning showdown on Saturday – all against Heartland Conference opponent Newman University.
Friday’s doubleheader starts at 1 p.m.
SATURDAY'S DOUBLEHEADER GETS TWO MORE UIW WINS -- posted Saturday, February 7 2009
Freshman pitcher Keith Vasquez earned his first win as a Cardinal in game 1 of Saturday's doubleheader
After Friday’s 23-7 victory over visiting Lincoln University, University of the Incarnate Word head coach Danny Heep had said that his team would need to stay focused when facing the Blue Tigers in Saturday’s doubleheader because LU had the talent to steal a win from UIW.
Lincoln threatened to do just that in the second part of Saturday’s Heartland Conference doubleheader at Sullivan Field, but the Cardinals held off a late rally by LU for a 12-10 win to give UIW a four-game sweep over their conference visitors after beating Lincoln 8-1 in the first game earlier that day.
“They’re on of those teams that pitch backwards,” Heep said of Lincoln, which falls to 0-4 overall and in conference so far this season. “They’ll throw their better pitchers the second day. Their number one is actually their fourth starter. He’s a good pitcher and we were lucky to get some runs off him.”
UIW (4-1 overall and 4-0 in conference) led by as much as 12-6 going into the last inning of the seven-inning matchup when Lincoln scored four runs (three earned) against Cardinal pitcher Chris Armijo, who was seeing his first action of the year and his first time on the mound since an injury. But, despite the senior getting into a few tough situations and have trouble getting his pitches to hit spots, Heep and his coaching staff felt it was best to keep Armijo in the game to help him start preparing to come back full-time.
“Armijo wasn’t as sharp as he usually is,” Heep said “He’s been out and he’s been hurt. We are trying to get him back in and get him healthy. You could tell he was a little off, but we needed to get him some innings in and get him some pitches because he’s got to get back into our starting lineup.”
With the four runs Lincoln score in the last inning, it proved that Heep’s message of staying focused and playing aggressive wasn’t just a coach rehashing a familiar post-game speech.
“You’ve got to keep playing,” Heep said. “Even when we were up 9-4, we just couldn’t stop because we needed every one of those runs at the end of the game.”
UIW’s Tommy Salas was credited with the win in the second game and picked up a save in the first game of the day. Freshman Keith Vasquez earned his first win as a Cardinal in the first half of the doubleheader.
The team’s next action will be a nine-inning matchup against Angelo State University (2 p.m.) on Tuesday before another pair of conference doubleheader at Sullivan Field, starting on Friday against Newman University.
Heep’s team knows that every conference game is important and that they must get a majority of those decisions in order to make it out of the regular season.
“We’ve just got to be consistent,” Heep explained. “I told these guys that we’re looking at winning the series – that’s very important when you get down the road and you have tiebreakers. Our conference has a lot of good teams and the last two years it has boiled down to who has had the tiebreaker to decide who won conference. And this season, we get an automatic bid, so they’re just a little more emphasis on how you do during conference play.”
Friday’s doubleheader – with a seven-inning game in the first matchup and a nine-inning game in the second part – starts at 1 p.m. while Saturday’s double helping begins at noon.
CARDINALS GO TIGER HUNTING IN DOUBLEHEADER -- posted Friday, February 6 2009
When the University of the Incarnate Word lost to Abilene Christian University on Tuesday, head coach Danny Heep said that part of the problem was his team’s lack of aggressive hitting and timely hitting against the Wildcats.
On Friday at Sullivan Field against Lincoln University, in the first conference doubleheader of the season, Heep’s team got their bats going, unloading 31 hits and scoring 32 runs in two games to crush the visiting Blue Tigers with 9-1 and 23-7 victories.
“We were just a little more aggressive,” Heep said simply. “We didn’t take as many pitches. When you’re ahead in the count, you’ve got to swing. In the first game, guys didn’t know what to expect and Abilene has a pretty good pitching staff, but we’re a line drive, singles-hitting team. We hit a few home runs today, but I don’t think that’s going to be the norm for us. So we’re got to hit and we have to generate runs.”
In the first game, the Cardinals (2-1, 2-0 in conference) generated eight hits to LU’s five – scoring four runs in the first and fourth inning and a ninth in the sixth to get nine unanswered runs following a one-run first by Lincoln. Freshman pitcher Kirk Jewasko went five innings and gave up just five hits and one earned run for his first win of the season and his first at UIW.
In the second part of the double-dip, Incarnate Word scored 11 runs in the first inning en route to a 23-7 blowout.
The Cardinals had 23 hits – including home runs by Tyler Hicks, Drew Hamilton, Josh Hood and Matt Roohan; three triples by Hicks, Hamilton and Chris Pacheco – and only left two players on base in the 7-inning contest.
UIW’s 11-1 lead only lasted until the fourth inning when Lincoln (0-2, 0-2) closed the lead to 12-5.
Experience and the conditions (winds blowing from the west to the east) told Heep that his team still could have a fight on their hands if they really let up.
“The came back from when it was 11-0 and then it was 12-5,” Heep said. “With aluminum bats and the wind blowing out at this ballpark, you can never quit playing. We’re not going to run and steal at that point, but if they get within six or seven runs, we’re going to be aggressive and move people.
“I’ve played a lot of games here and we’re scored 15 runs on people… and lost 16-15, so this is a hitter’s park when the wind is blowing out. You’ve got to keep scoring runs – you can’t take it for granted.”
Incarnate Word responded with 11 more runs in the next three innings. Freshman Ethan Lutz was credited with the win after coming into the game with the bases loaded and surviving with minimal damage.
But, despite blowing out their Heartland Conference visitors, UIW has to go back to work at Sullivan Field at noon on Saturday for another doubleheader against Lincoln – a squad that Heep will stress his team not to take lightly despite Friday’s wins.
“I don’t like playing everybody eight times, but that’s the nature of our conference,” Heep confessed. “Having said that, we’ve got to come back out and remember the good things we’ve done here (today) and but we’ve also got to understand tat this is a good team. Lincoln can come up and beat us at any point and we cannot take that for granted.
“We have to be aggressive tomorrow and come out and play hard and play good games. If we don’t play hard or we don’t play defense, they are very capable of beating us.”
CARDINALS PICKED IN TOP 3 IN PRESEASON POLL -- posted Friday, February 6 2009
The University of the Incarnate Word baseball team was voted to finish third in the Heartland Conference Preseason Poll released by the conference office on Thursday.
The Cardinals sit behind first-place St. Edward’s University and second-place St. Mary’s University. Texas-Permian Basin, Texas A&M International, Newman University, Lincoln University and Oklahoma Panhandle State University round out the eight-team poll.
St. Edward’s received six first-place votes to land the top spot in the preseason predictions, getting more love from conference coaches and sports information directors than STMU – currently ranked #28 in the NCAA Division II Baseball Preseason Poll.
St. Edward’s finished first in the Heartland Conference last season with a 40-16 record (38-11 in conference). St. Mary’s and Incarnate Word finished tied for second place with 39-17 overall records and 35-14 conference standings.
UIW starts conference baseball play today with a doubleheader against visiting Lincoln University at Sullivan Field at noon. Then, the two teams will face off again on Saturday with another doubleheader beginning at noon.
Both days will feature games seven innings in length.
CARDINALS TAKE #11 ACU INTO EXTRA INNINGS IN SEASON OPENER -- posted Tuesday, February 3 2009
UIW outfielder Tyler Hicks hit a triple in the 5th inning to help tie the game at 2-2 and send it to extra innings on Tuesday. ACU eventually won the game, 5-2, in 11 innings.
Incarnate Word's Drew Hamilton hit a sacrifice fly in the 5th inning to bring in the game-tieing run. Abilene Christian, however, eventually won the game in 11 innings, 5-2.
The University of the Incarnate Word baseball team started out the 2009 season by going up against the No. 11-ranked team in the NCAA’s Division II, Abilene Christian University, at Sullivan Field on Tuesday.
For 10 innings, the Cardinals fought evenly with the visiting Wildcats in a 2-2 game, but an inability to score with two men on-base late in the game and three unanswered runs in the top of the 11th innings finally ended things for UIW’s upset bid and ACU escaped with a 5-3 win in the season-opener for both programs.
“We played good enough to win, but we didn’t,” UIW head coach Danny Heep said. “We just didn’t hit.
“Their pitchers did a good job on us,” Heep continued. “It’s early in the season and we’ve got a lot of new guys in the lineup, but we had our opportunities. I mean, we were in the 10th inning and they had three hits and two runs – and somehow we’re still playing… that usually doesn’t happen.”
In the 10th, Drew Hamilton got walked and then advanced to second after a wild pitch by ACU’s Brad Rutherford. Right after, UIW’s Chris Pacheco also drew a walk out of Rutherford, putting two on for Incarnate Word. However, already with an out on the scoreboard, the inning and the threat to win was ended when shortstop Reno Malay hit into a double play.
Incarnate Word (0-1) had seven hits to ACU’s three until the 11th, but when the Cardinals were unable to bring in the winning run in the 10th, it provided the Wildcats (1-0) a chance to get the victory.
“Their guys did a good job,” Heep said. “They threw strikes, got outs and got the double plays when they had to. Offensively, I was disappointed in us. I don’t think we were very aggressive and I don’t think we hit very well.”
With UIW trailing 2-1 in the fifth, Hicks led off with a triple and then got batted in thanks to a sacrifice fly by Hamilton to knot the score at 2-2 and, eventually, send the game into extra innings.
With only one game under the team’s collective belt, Heep and his staff now have to try and get the bats going in time for Friday’s doubleheader against visiting Lincoln University – a Heartland Conference doubleheader to be followed by another double-shot on Saturday.
“The bats are something that is going to need to come around pretty quick,” Heep said.
The sudden start to conference play is something that all members of the Heartland Conference must deal with.
“I’d rather start a little later in the season, but the way our conference is set up, you have one game to try and get everybody into it,” Heep said. “Playing in-conference the first week in February… I don’t like it, but everybody’s got to do it.
“I’d like to have a few more games, but we’re going to have to be ready to play.”
Both Friday and Saturday’s doubleheaders are scheduled to begin at noon.
