HOUSTON – The UTSA baseball team claimed a series victory over Rice, complete with a 6-5 finale win over the Owls on Sunday afternoon at Reckling Park.
QUICK HITS
- Fischer Kingsbery earned his first win of the season, pitching two innings of shutout ball while fanning two.
- Daniel Shafer earned his fifth save of the 2023 campaign, keeping the Owls hitless in the final 1.1 innings pitched.
- Three Roadrunners – Shane Sirdashney, Josh Killeen and Matt King - had a team-high two hits.
- Antonio Valdez reached base safely for the 25th consecutive game, hitting a home run – his eighth of the season.
- The Roadrunners improved to a phenomenal 20-5 overall record, while also improving to a 5-1 Conference USA record to grab hold of sole possession of first place in the conference standings.
BREAKDOWN OF THE GAME
Freshman Zach Royse earned his first career appearance, starting the game and forcing a quick 1-2-3 first inning. In that first frame, Royse used just eight pitches and seven of them were strikes.
The Roadrunners opened up scoring in the second inning. Sammy Diaz scored on a fielder's choice by Matt King, before Sirdashney drew a bases-loaded walk to drive in the second run.
Rice quickly responded in the bottom of the frame as two consecutive Owls hit homeruns to take a 3-2 lead.
UTSA had an answer of its own in the top of the third. Valdez reached base on an error to open up the inning, before Diaz brought them both home with a two-run homerun, regaining the 4-3 lead for the Roadrunners.
Coming in to relieve Royse in the third inning, freshman Ruger Riojas sat down the Owls in order with two groundouts and a flyout. Riojas continued to keep Rice scoreless through the fourth and fifth frames.
Leading off the fifth inning, Valdez watched the first pitch fall outside the strike zone before unleashing on the second one and launching it over the right field wall just inches inside the foul pole to extend UTSA's lead to 5-3.
The Owls tied it up at 5-5 with a two-run homerun in the bottom of the sixth. Coming in to relieve Riojas shortly after, Kingsbery sat down the final batter of the frame. He shut down the Owls in order in the seventh inning with two groundouts and a strikeout.
Taylor Smith opened up the eighth inning with a single on the first pitch he saw. After a couple of outs and a pitching change, Leyton Barry doubled to drive in Smith, giving UTSA the go-ahead run for the 6-5 lead.
Kingsbery sat down the first two batters in the bottom of the inning before being relieved by Shafer, who forced the final batter to a quick flyout on his first pitch thrown.
The Roadrunners didn't score in the top of the ninth, taking a tight 6-5 lead to the bottom of the frame with the Owls getting one last chance. Shafer came back out to the mound for UTSA, starting the inning with a groundout. He followed that with a flyout on two pitches.
With the last batter up to bat for the Owls, Shafer threw the first two pitches of the at-bat for swinging strikes. He followed that with a couple balls but then won the 2-2 count as he got the batter swinging, concluding the inning to secure the 6-5 win for UTSA in the series finale against Rice.
The Roadrunners improved to an 20-5 overall record (5-1 in Conference USA action), while Rice fell to a 12-12 overall record (4-2 in C-USA).
ON DECK
The Roadrunners are set for a midweek matchup at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in Corpus Christi, Texas, on March 28. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. at Chapman Field on ESPN+.
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