| Senior Mitch Ponza's ninth-inning homer gave UTSA a come-from-behind 5-3 victory on Saturday. |
SAN ANTONIO ? Senior Mitch Ponza had plenty of reasons to smile on Saturday. After all, it was Senior Day and UTSA clinched the Southland Conference Regular Season Championship on Friday night.
His two-run homer with nobody out in the ninth gave him another memory to cherish, as it gave the Roadrunners a 5-3 comeback victory against Texas State and sent his teammates into next week's SLC Tournament on a positive note. It was Ponza's second game-winning bomb of the year (April 20 at Stephen F. Austin).
The win gave UTSA its ninth win in 10 SLC series finales this year and improved the Roadrunners to 34-20 overall and a conference-record 24-6 in league play. It also was the team's eighth consecutive victory at Roadrunner Field and 15th in its last 16 contests, giving it a 20-6 home record this season (T-No. 3 in school history). It is the first time in 12 years that UTSA has posted back-to-back 20-win home campaigns (1994-95).
Junior Trent Lockwood got the ninth-inning rally started when he laced a pinch-hit double down the right-field line to lead off the frame. It was his 23rd two-bagger of the season, which broke Ken Wallis’ single-season record of 22 set seven years ago (1999). Junior Phillip Allen came on to pinch run for Lockwood and Ponza, who started the at bat trying to move Allen to third base with a sacrifice bunt, took a 1-2 offering from Kyle Gembler (4-4) over the left-field wall to give UTSA its ninth SLC series victory of the year.
Texas State (35-21, 20-10 SLC) got its first lead of the day with a two-run eighth, but senior Ryan Saltzgaber’s one-out sacrifice fly to right brought home sophomore James Keithley with the tying run and set the stage for Ponza’s final-inning heroics.
Junior Mark Ruffin (2-0), who relieved starter Ryan Proudfoot with a runner on second and one down in the eighth, held the Bobcats scoreless over the final 1.2 innings to earn the victory.
Proudfoot turned in his second consecutive strong performance, allowing three runs on just five hits and one walk, while striking out four in 7.1 innings. The Lindale native retired 11 straight at one point and seven in a row later on before running into trouble to start the eighth.
The Roadrunners took an early 1-0 lead in the third when junior Marshal Davis brought home Ponza with an RBI single to right, but the Bobcats tied the game with a run in the fifth.
UTSA regained the advantage one inning later when Texas State reliever B.J. Boening balked home junior Greg Sillivent with one down.
Bobcats starter Steven Siers was solid, giving up just one run on three hits in his five inning of work before giving way to the bullpen.
Prior to the contest, the Roadrunners’ senior class ? Josh Blakley, Blake Brannon, Brandon Koger, Noah Miles, Ponza, Josh Ruffin and Saltzgaber ? were honored for their contributions to the program.
UTSA is back in action at 11 a.m. on Wednesday when it opens play in conference tournament against Stephen F. Austin (30-26). You can follow all the action live from Brown-Stroud Stadium in Natchitoches, La., on goUTSA.com.