| May 27, 2005 Roadrunners advance to BellSouth SLC Championship with wild 9-8, extra-inning win over Southeastern Louisiana Box Score Junior J.R. Voyles singled home senior Lee Todesco with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning as the Roadrunners defeated Southeastern Louisiana, 9-8, Friday afternoon at Brown-Stroud Field in the winner's bracket final. The Roadrunners had a chance to put it away in the ninth, but the Lions got a two-run homer and a solo homer off closer Jason Vecchio to tie the game at eight. Sophomore Josh Ruffin, who came on to record a win in the first round victory over Texas State, came on and retired the Lions in the 10th to notch the win and to improve to 6-7 on the year. Chad Pendarvis, who entered in the fifth and gave up only four runs, got the loss to fall to 4-3. The Roadrunners' last tournament championship ironically came on the same field at Brown-Stroud Field in 1994. The Roadrunners got clutch hitting for the third day in a row from the entire batting order. Voyles, batting second, went 3-for-5 with four RBIs, while senior Stephen Holdren went 2-for-2 with a double and is now 5-for-5 in the last two tournament games. Designated hitter and senior Eric Moreno, who had a key RBI hit in last night's win over Lamar, went 2-for-4, while junior Lee Todesco went 3-for-5 with two runs scored, hitting an RBI triple in the eighth to put UTSA up 6-5. Freshman Marshal Davis, batting ninth, went 2-for-4 and laid down a textbook bunt in the eighth that wound up being a double. The Roadrunners notched 16 hits. With the game knotted at five in the bottom of the eighth, Moreno doubled to lead off and was replaced by pinch runner Phillip Allen. Todesco then drilled a long fly ball to deep center field that Lion fielder Gary Duhe misjudged. The ball ricocheted off the wall, scoring Allen. Davis then bunted down the first base line past first baseman Trent Hebert and into short right field. Davis scooted to second as Todesco scored. Voyles then cracked an RBI single through the right side. Vecchio, who had recorded the save in both of UTSA's tournament wins, came on in the ninth and allowed a double to Duhe to start things off. After a strikeout by Kyle Ginn, Randy Roth crushed a Vecchio pitch deep over the left field wall to make it 8-7. Ryan Spencer then took the next pitch over the left field wall to tie the game at eight. In the 10th, UTSA got a single by Todesco and a single by Davis to put two men on with one out. Danielson reached on a fielder's choice, sending Todesco to third with two out. On a 1-2 fastball, Voyles drove the ball into right field to score Todesco with the game-winning run. The Roadrunners jumped on top early in the contest as Voyles hit his second home run of the tournament, a two-run shot, in the first inning for a 2-0 UTSA lead. However, the Lions rallied quickly, getting three runs off starter Caleb Barton in the second to make it a 3-2 Lion lead. The Roadrunners knotted the game at three in the third on a Holdren RBI single to score Voyles. UTSA then increased its lead to 5-3 in the fifth. Danielson led off the fifth with a single and stole second. Voyles hit a fly out to right field to move Danielson to third, and then junior Ryan Crew, who is now 7-for-14 in the tournament, singled in front of the mound. Senior Chris Lewis reached on a fielder's choice to score Danielson. Moreno singled down the right field line to score Crew and make it 5-3. UTSA had some trouble in the field in the seventh as three errors led to two Lion runs and a 5-5 ballgame. UTSA ended up with a season high six errors. Duhe went 3-for-5, while Roth went 2-for-5 to lead the Lions. The Roadrunners need to only win once tomorrow to advance to an NCAA regional for the first time since 1994.
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