It took a while Saturday for the bats to get going, but when they did it was Incarnate Word’s that put up the numbers.

The visiting Cardinals erupted for six runs in the top of the fifth to break a scoreless game open and race to a 10-3 victory over McNeese State.

The victory gave UIW the series win. The Cowboys will try to salvage the series finale today with the first pitch at 1 p.m.

With the win the Cardinals improved to 4-4 in the Southland Conference and 19-14 overall. McNeese fell to 2-6, 16-17. 

Caley Cameron and Dalton Beck each hit two-run homers in the big inning, as the Cardinals blasted three out of Joe Miller Ballerpark. For both, it was their league-leading eighth home run of the season.

Beck finished with three hits and drove in three runs as UIW collected 13 hits. Tony DeJesus also had three hits while Grant Randall hit his third home run of the season in the ninth.

McNeese picked up homers by Copper Hext and Chase Keeton. Hext’s shot was his third of the year, a two-run shot in the sixth. Keeton hit is fourth in the ninth.

Simon Larranaga had two hits for the Cowboys, the second straight game he has collected multiple safeties.

Zach Voss took the loss for McNeese. The right-hander fell to 0-4 after giving up 10 hits and six runs in five innings. 

Isaiah Zavala (3-3) went the distance to pick up the victory.