| April 9, 2004
Contact: Erin Molina (210) 458-4930 UTSA falls 8-7 to Southland Conference leader Northwestern State Box Score
SAN ANTONIO – Senior Clint Sansom and freshman Mike McKennon each drove in a pair of runs for UTSA, but it was Northwestern State’s Tigger Lyles who delivered a two-out home run in the eighth inning, capping a 5-for-5 performance at the plate, that proved to be the difference in the Demon’s 8-7 win over the Roadrunners in Southland Conference baseball action Friday night at Wolff Stadium.
After tying the score at one in the bottom of the first, UTSA went ahead 3-1 in the next inning on Sansom’s two-run single to center. The Runners’ lead would hold until the fourth when the Demons produced four runs beginning with Josh Boop earning a leadoff walk. Singles by Jeff Martin, Rusty Jones and Scott Pittenger pushed three runs across while a dropped throw by the UTSA first baseman on an attempted throw down to second kept the inning alive and allowed Jones to score for a 5-3 advantage.
UTSA closed within one in the fourth on a leadoff home run by Lucas Stewart, his third long ball on the season and second in as many games.
Northwestern State extended the lead to 6-4 with Hunter Thoms driving in Boop for his second run of the night with a single in the fifth. The Runners would claw back in the bottom half tying the score at six when Sansom collected his second hit of the night, a double to start the Runners’ rally. J.R. Voyles successfully executed the sacrifice bunt to advance Sansom, before reaching safely on an errant throw by the Demons’ pitcher. A wild pitch by Clay Turner sent Sansom home and a groundout by McKennon plated Voyles to knot the score.
The wild pitch was a rare miscue for the Demons’ right-hander on this night, however, as Turner tossed his second complete game of the year to move to 7-1, striking out 12 Roadrunners and allowing just two walks in the process.
The Demons went ahead in the seventh after Bobby Barbier, who finished 3-for-5, slammed a triple off the wall in left-center and then scored on a Thoms’ sacrifice fly. Lyles fifth hit of the night, the eighth-inning homer, put the Demons in front for good. UTSA, who on the season has out-scored opponents 34-13 in the ninth inning, did mount a one-out rally after Voyles was hit by a pitch and Sam Mitchell and McKennon put together back-to-back singles to score a run. Turner ended the threat with his 12th strikeout of the game as Ryan Crew went down swinging leaving runners on first and second.
Klae Boehme took the loss for UTSA in six and a third innings of work allowing seven runs on 14 hits with just one walk while striking out three.
The Roadrunners (16-15, 5-5) and Demons (19-12, 8-2) tangle again tomorrow in a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. at Wolff Stadium to conclude the series.
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