SAN ANTONIO – Holding a seven-run lead after the top of the eighth, Texas State held off an Incarnate Word comeback to claim a 10-8 contest on Tuesday afternoon at Sullivan Field.
 
The Bobcats are back to .500 with a 19-19 record while the Cardinals saw their five-game winning streak come to an end and are now 20-15 on the season.
 
In his first career start, Rhett McCaffety (2-0) was dealing in his three innings of work. The lefty retired all nine batters he faced with a career-high six strikeouts to earn the win. Micah Berens (1-2) allowed four runs on four hits in four innings to take the loss.
 
Calen Graham worked two innings out of the bullpen while the foursome of Dalton Buckingham, Cameron O'Banan, Tony Robie and Taylor Seay pitched an inning of relief.
 
At the plate, Aaron Lugo went 2-for-5 with three RBI and scored twice. Cade Manning finished with two hits, with one being a double, two RBI and two runs scored. Also finishing with two base knocks was Alex Gonzales and Kameron Weil as they each plated a run. August Ramirez had a two RBI afternoon, as well.
 
Lugo got the scoring going in the first. The junior hit his team leading ninth home run of the season, while blowing a bubble, down the left field line to put TXST up 3-0.
 
In the fourth, Rashawn Galloway worked a walk on a 10-pitch at-bat. He moved into scoring position on a wild pitch and then scored as Manning doubled off the left field wall to increase the advantage to four.
 
The first three UIW batters reached base in the bottom of the frame on a walk, error and hit, respectively. Seay came on an induced two groundouts with the last resulting in a double play to escape the jam allowing just one run. The next inning saw Tony DeJesus lead off with a solo homer to right field to cut the lead to 4-2.
 
Five consecutive singles with two outs led to three runs for the Bobcats to make it a five-run advantage after the top of the sixth. Driving in a run each was Gonzales, Manning and Weil.
 
The scoring continued in the seventh as Manning doubled off the centerfield wall that plated Lugo all the way from first to make it an 8-2 lead.
 
UIW got back on the scoreboard in the next half inning as Dalton Beck led off with an opposite field home run to left.
 
The eighth began with Manning drawing a free pass and Gonzales being plunked. Following a sacrifice bunt by Weil, Ramirez sent a 3-1 pitch back up the middle to bring home both runners to increase the advantage to 10-3.
 
Five runs would be scored by the Cardinals over the final two frames to close the gap. They would score once in the eighth and four times in the ninth.
 
Next for the Bobcats is a Sun Belt Conference series this weekend against South Alabama. Friday's first pitch is set for 6 p.m. at Bobcat Ballpark.
 
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