· Box score
LAKE CHARLES, La. – UTSA rode the right arm of senior Josh Ruffin and sophomore James Keithley’s two-out double in the seventh brought home senior Mitch Ponza with the go-ahead run, as the Roadrunners picked up a 3-1 victory at McNeese State in Friday's Southland Conference opener for both teams.
Ruffin, who retired nine of the final 10 hitters he faced, tossed a four-hitter and struck out seven for his seventh career complete game (t-No. 4 in UTSA history). The 6-foot-2 right-hander evened his record at 2-2 and lowered his ERA to 4.99 for the season. In his last two starts, he has allowed just two runs on nine hits and fanned 13 in 16 innings (1.13 ERA).
“Josh had another quality outing for us tonight,” head coach Sherman Corbett said following the victory. “He retired seven of the nine lead-off hitters he faced and that was key for him. He got stronger as the night went on and it was an outstanding performance to open the conference season.”
Ponza got the seventh-inning rally going when he stroked his first career triple with one out. His hit went off the left-field wall and glove of Deron Minor before settling under the entrance gate in foul territory. The umpires met for nearly five minutes before deciding Ponza would have reached third before the ball went out of play and awarded him the base.
After freshman Ryan Rummel struck out looking, McNeese State starter Chris Denton hit junior Marshal Davis with a 2-2 pitch to put runners on the corners. Keithley then stroked Denton’s 2-2 offering down the left-field line to give UTSA the lead for good.
The Roadrunners tacked on an insurance run in the eighth. Sophomore Michael Rockett led off the frame with a double down the left-field line and junior Trent Lockwood followed with a walk. After the pair moved up a base on a double steal, Denton struck out senior Ryan Saltzgaber swinging, but McNeese State head coach Chris Fackler elected to bring Jonathan Conrad in from the bullpen. The right-hander proceeded to walk junior Zach Etheredge to load the bases and brought home UTSA’s third and final run when he walked Ponza one batter later.
Keithley led the Roadrunners’ offense by going 2-for-5 with his third double of the year. He now has hit safely in the last five games and has a .458 (11-24) batting average during that stretch.
Denton (2-3) picked up the loss for the Cowboys. The southpaw allowed three runs on seven hits and struck out five in his 7.1 innings of work.
UTSA jumped to an early 1-0 lead when Lockwood drilled a two-out double to right center that brought home Keithley, who led off the contest with a single through the right side and moved to second on redshirt freshman Tim Palincsar's ground out to the pitcher.
McNeese State tied it up one inning later on Taylor Faul’s two-out single to left that plated Joe Hullet.
The series continues at 3 p.m. on Saturday. UTSA right-hander Bradley Chovanec (0-2, 5.13 ERA) will oppose righty Sam English (0-3, 7.97 ERA).
