| Senior Jeff Taliaferro went 3-for-4 with two doubles and his sixth home run of the year on Saturday. |
SAN ANTONIO — Stephen F. Austin hit three solo home runs in the sixth, added another three-spot an inning later to take its first lead of the day and it rallied for a 13-9 victory against UTSA on Saturday afternoon at Roadrunner Field.
With UTSA (12-17, 3-11 SLC) holding a 6-3 lead entering the sixth, emergency left-handed starter D.D Towler was in position to pick up his second win of the season, but a lead-off homer by Jarid Scarafiotti and consecutive one-out taters off the bats of Ryan Priest and Bo Coffman later in the frame tied the game at six and chased him from the contest.
The Lumberjacks (21-9, 9-4 SLC) then pushed across three more runs an inning later off Roadrunners reliever Mike Pierce (0-5) on four walks and three singles to go in front for the first time on the day at 9-6.
After UTSA drew within two with an unearned mark in the bottom of the seventh, SFA put the game out of reach with a four-run eighth, which pushed the lead to 13-7.
The Roadrunners made things interesting with a two-run eighth and then saw two base runners reach in the final panel, but the tying run never got past the on-deck circle.
Brad Oates (1-1) picked up the victory after allowing just an unearned run in his 2.2 innings out of the Lumberjacks bullpen. The right-hander walked one and struck out three.
UTSA got off to a great start after jumping on Stephen F. Austin starter Jared West for four runs in the opening inning.
Junior Tyler Carpenter led off the frame with a single to right, which extended his hitting streak to 10 games. An errant pick-off throw by West allowed Carpenter to move to second and he came home two hitters later when senior Ryan Rummel singled down the left-field line. Senior Lance Brown went on to draw a two-out walk and sophomore Casey Selsor then launched a three-run homer to left center for his fourth long ball of the season.
After Michael Hayes cut the lead to one with a three-run bomb in the third, senior Jeff Taliaferro's delivered his sixth blast of the year, a two-run shot with one down in the fourth, to extend the lead to three.
Riley Huble led a 16-hit SFA offensive attack by going 4-for-4 with a pair of doubles. Lead-off hitter Garrett Smith reached base in all six of his plate appearances (three hits/three walks) and scored twice, while Coffman, Priest and Scarafiotti added two safeties apiece. Tanner Hines singled in the eighth to extend his hitting streak to a school-record-tying 19 games.
Carpenter and Taliaferro both had three hits to lead the Birds and freshman Ryan Dalton left the park for a team-leading eighth time with one down in the eighth.
Starting in place of an injured Matt Crocker, Towler allowed a half dozen runs on eight hits, walked two and struck out a pair in 5.1 innings of work.
UTSA will look to avoid its third league sweep of the spring on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. and junior right-hander Taylor Walton (3-1, 6.20 ERA) is expected to get the nod on the mound for the Roadrunners.