SAN ANTONIO (Interstat) — Pinch-hitter Dalton Lyssy delivered a walk-off sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 11th inning Saturday, lifting the Incarnate Word Cardinals to a 5-4 victory over the Nicholls State Colonels in a Southland Conference baseball game that stretched from afternoon into evening at Roadrunner Field.

The game’s most important sequence came in the final frame, as the Cardinals, who had battled back from an early four-run deficit, finally broke through against the Colonels’ bullpen. After Joseph Bordelon relieved for Nicholls State in the 11th, Ryder Anderson drew a one-out walk and Tony Enriquez followed with a single to right-center, moving Anderson to third. Following a mound visit, Lyssy, who had entered the game as a defensive replacement in the 10th, lifted a fly ball to deep right-center field. Anderson tagged and scored easily, giving Incarnate Word the extra-inning win and squaring the weekend series at one game apiece.

The victory improved Incarnate Word’s record to 12-10 overall, while Nicholls State fell to 11-13.

The Cardinals’ comeback was fueled by clutch pitching and a timely home run. After Nicholls State struck for all four of its runs in a messy third inning, highlighted by Parker Melancon’s two-run single and an RBI single from Edgar RijoBerger, Incarnate Word chipped away. Cole Tabor’s RBI double in the first and Enriquez’s run-scoring single in the second made it 4-2.

The Colonels’ pitching staff, led by strong relief outings from Karson Trichel and Cole Poirrier, held the line for much of the game. Trichel tossed four hitless innings in relief of starter Austin Vargas, allowing one unearned run. Poirrier followed with three perfect frames, striking out two.

Incarnate Word finally drew even in the seventh when right fielder Preston Newberry launched a solo home run to left-center, his third hit of the day, tying the game at 4.

From there, the game became a bullpen duel, with Incarnate Word’s Fawster Voytko emerging as the star. The reliever entered in the eighth inning and dominated, firing four shutout innings and allowing just one hit while striking out three to earn the win. His outing preserved the tie and set the stage for the 11th-inning heroics. Voytko has now thrown 7 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings over his last three appearances.

Nicholls State managed only six hits, with Melancon collecting two RBIs. Incarnate Word finished with eight hits, two from Newberry, who also drove in two runs.

The game defied pregame projections. Interstat’s game simulator had predicted a 7-6 Incarnate Word victory, while its ELO system gave Nicholls State a 57.1% probability to win.

The deciding game of the three-game conference series is scheduled for Sunday afternoon at Roadrunner Field.