SAN ANTONIO, Texas - In the battle of third-place teams in the Southland Conference standings, UIW picked up a run-rule 11-3 victory to open Friday's doubleheader against the Nicholls State University softball team before the Cardinals swept the two games with a 4-3 walk-off win at HEB Field.

With the losses, Nicholls (25-24, 12-8 SLC) falls two games behind UIW (30-13, 14-6 SLC) in the standings with the Cardinals also notching the advantage in any tiebreaker scenarios for seeding in the Southland Tournament in two weeks. The teams will wrap up the series on Saturday with a noon start.

Game 1 - UIW 11, Nicholls 3 (5 inn.)

UIW scored a combined 10 runs in two innings as the Colonels fell in Game 1 of Friday's doubleheader.

Nicholls jumped out to an early 1-0 lead after Abby Andersen hit a two-out RBI single. But an error in the bottom half made way for four unearned UIW runs after the Cardinals had a string of three RBI singles.

Alexa Poche' made it a 4-3 game in the third after she crushed a two-run home run off of Larissa Jacquez. However, it would be the last runs for the Colonels.

In the bottom of the third, UIW chased Audrey McNeill out of the game after extending its lead to 6-3 with the bases still loaded and no outs. Averi Paden took over and gave up a grand slam to Victoria Altamirano as the Cardinals took a commanding 10-3 lead.

Nicholls put runners on in the fourth and fifth innings but lined into double plays at third base in both frames. Then in the fifth, Aaliyah Garcia ended the game on a sacrifice fly.

Poche' and Reagan Heflin had 3-for-3 days at the plate, accounting for six of the Colonels' eight hits against Jacquez. 

McNeill took the loss, allowing three earned runs on nine hits and struck out one.

Game 2 - UIW 4, Nicholls 3

Nicholls built a 3-0 lead through five-and-a-half innings before UIW scored the game's final four runs to pick up the doubleheader sweep.

With the game scoreless through four innings, Riley Rutherford and Gabby Higbee led off the frame with singles and it resulted in a 2-0 Colonel lead. Molly VandenBout picked up an RBI on a fielder's choice before Mckenzie Champagne drove in another on an RBI groundout.

In the sixth, Rutherford singled in Erin Krause for a 3-0 advantage. But UIW countered in the bottom half with its first runs off Molly Yoo. 

The seventh-inning rally for UIW came with one out. Two singles brought up the league's top hitter, Altamirano, and Yoo pitched around her to load the bags. However, Avalon Sanchez notched her second hit of the contest with a game-ending double down the line for the 4-3 win.

Krause and Rutherford had two hits each for the Colonels. Yoo took the loss after allowing four runs on eight hits. She walked three and struck out one.