SAN ANTONIO, TX. – The University of Incarnate Word tallied five runs in the first three innings and never looked back en route to a 7-3 victory over the Northern Illinois University baseball team Friday night at Sullivan Field.

The Cardinals connected for nine hits, and took advantage of four uncharacteristic NIU errors to pick up their sixth win of the season.

"You can't make four errors on defense, four offensively and expect to win," Huskies' head coach Mike Kunigonis said. "This is a game to put behind us as fast possible and move on to tomorrow."

UIW broke the game open quickly as it plated single runs in the first and second innings and made it a 5-0 affair with three runs in the third. NIU was able to put their first run across in the fifth when Hunter Bross (Scottsdale, Ariz./Mesa Community College) reached on an error, advanced to second on a Tommy Washington (Chicago, Ill./Harlan) sacrifice bunt and scored on Josh Mutter's (Frankfort, Ill. /Lincoln-Way North) reach on an error.

UIW tallied another run in the bottom half of the fifth, but NIU responded with two in the sixth inning to close the gap to 6-3. Scooter Bynum led off the frame with a triple to right field and came home on Ty Jandrowski's (Kenosha, Wis./Madison College) RBI sacrifice fly to center field. Bross then laced a single through the left side, stole second and scored on a Mutter single. The Cardinals closed out the game with a run in the eighth – via a run-scoring single – and earned their third victory in the last four games.

Senior LHP George Faue (Corcoan, Minn./Iowa Central) suffered the loss on the mound as he worked five innings. He struck out three batters, and walked three as he moved his overall record to 0-3. Jack Phillips (Fishers, Ind./Cathedral) and Blake Walker (Indianapolis, Ind./Bishop Chatard) came on in relief in the final three innings and struck out a batter each.

Washington led the Huskies' offense going 2 for 3, while Bross had two runs scored and Bynum one. NIU fell to 3-5 on the year.

"We will bounce back tomorrow and get back in the series," Kunigonis said.

NIU resumes the four-game set with a doubleheader Saturday, starting at 12 p.m.

--NIU--