University of the Incarnate Word Senior Joe Villa slides home safe past St Mary’s catcher Cody Pyle on Saturday at Sullivan Field on the UIW campus. The UIW baseball team swept cross town rival St Mary’s in both games Saturday. Photo by John Albright

After dropping a doubleheader to St. Mary’s University Friday afternoon, the University of the Incarnate Word Cardinals got revenge Saturday, sweeping the Rattlers, 16-4 and 8-4. Junior righthander Blake McAnelly went the distance in game two Saturday afternoon and his teammates gave him six runs in their final two at-bats as Incarnate Word completed a doubleheader sweep of their cross-town rival.

In winning the Saturday pair, the Cardinals gained a split of the four-game Heartland Conference series with the Rattlers. St. Mary’s, however, maintained its grip on second in the conference with a 19-9 league mark while UIW continues in third at 16-12. Both teams have 12 Heartland games remaining on their schedules.

McAnelly allowed the four runs on 12 hits but only one run was earned. He walked two and whiffed four. He upped his season mark to 5-1 with the victory. In the bottom of the sixth, the Cardinals broke out of a 4-4 tie by pushing four runs across the plate on three hits, two walks and a hit batsman. The big blow was a right field double by freshman right fielder Drew Hamilton to plate two of the scores.

Incarnate Word got production up and down its lineup in the second game. Junior third baseman Chris Mojica was 3-2, including a triple, with a run scored; senior first baseman Joe Villa was 2-3, including a double, with two scores, and junior shortstop Gideon Williams also was 2-3 and he scored once and drove in two teammates.

The tone of game one was set early, when the Cardinals’ leadoff batter, sophomore center fielder Chris Pacheco, tripled into the right field corner in the bottom of the first. He came home on infield groundout and the Cardinals were never headed thereafter. In amassing the 16 runs on 15 safe hits, UIW had only that triple and a later double by Hamilton for extra bases. The remainder was of the singles varieties.

Leading the charge was the top of the order as Pacheco was 3-4 with three runs scored and three RBIs. Right behind was second batter, Mojica, who was 3-4 with a run scored and two RBI. In fact, only two Incarnate Word position players were hitless.

Senior righthander Jerry Anderson, pitching his final game at Sullivan Field, was the beneficiary. He worked five innings for the win, making him 3-4 on the year. He yielded six hits and four runs, three earned, while walking six and striking out one.

The game got out of hand in the bottom of the third when Incarnate Word plated eight runs on six hits. In that frame, 14 Cardinals came to the plate. Along with the six hits, four St. Mary’s pitchers issued four free passes, hit one batter and another UIW run was balked home.

Incarnate Word scored runs in each of the first five innings, leaving little doubt as to the final outcome.