Cardinals finish sweep, edge Hounds in 10

SAN ANTONIO — Three times on Sunday, Eastern New Mexico University's baseball team was within an out of victory. Twice, the count was 0-2.

Incarnate Word rallied, though, scoring once in the ninth inning to tie it and then getting a two-out, two-run bloop single from Jordan Scelfo, who had been 0-for-5 to that point, in the bottom of the 10th to beat the Greyhounds 6-5 and complete a four-game Lone Star Conference series sweep.

UIW (25-15, 11-9 LSC) outhit the Hounds 14-9, but ENMU received seven walks and five hit batsmen from Cardinals pitching. The Hounds (19-20, 6-14 LSC), who dropped under .500 for the first time this season, left 15 runners on base, including the bases loaded three times; the Cardinals stranded 17, leaving the sacks full twice.

Junior right-hander Kyle Kesmarki got the Hounds out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the fifth to preserve a 4-3 lead, and carried that margin into the bottom of the ninth when he retired the first two UIW hitters.

He gave up a single on an 0-2 pitch to Jason Stone, and catcher Jonathan Armijo followed with a double down the left field line to score pinch-runner Aaron Warren.

In the 10th, ENMU went back in front after Colton Sims and Daniel Binz hit two-out singles and moved up on a wild pitch by Geno Encina (7-5). Derek Crenshaw was safe on an error by third baseman Blake Woosley as Sims scored, but shortstop Derrick Walls picked up the deflected ball and threw Binz out trying to score.

Senior Ryan Pruitt (5-3) gave up two hits to start the UIW 10th. After a fielder's choice at third, a walk loaded the bases and Lukus Miller hit into a 5-2 fielder's choice before Scelfo dropped an 0-2 pitch from Pruitt into shallow left to score the winning runs.

ENMU plays at non-league Wayland Baptist in an 11 a.m. (MDT) start on Tuesday, then hosts Texas A&M-Kingsville next weekend and West Texas A&M from April 26-28 at Greyhound Field to complete the regular season.

Those teams are currently tied for sixth place in the eight-team LSC. The Hounds have to make up four games on at least one of them to qualify for the LSC tournament, which is scheduled for May 4-7 at Canyon, Texas.