| Senior Josh Ruffin extended his UTSA career shutout record to five with a five-hitter on Friday. |
SAN ANTONIO ? UTSA tied its season high with four home runs and senior right-hander Josh Ruffin tossed the fifth shutout of his career, as the Roadrunners rolled to an impressive 12-0 victory against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Friday night at Roadrunner Field. The game was called after seven innings due to the Southland Conference’s run rule.
UTSA (28-18, 18-4 SLC) continued its dominance of series openers this season by winning their 11th lid-lifter in a row, including eight to start the conference campaign. The Roadrunners also remained hot at home, winning for the 11th time in the last 12 contests.
Senior Ryan Saltzgaber and junior Trent Lockwood both left the yard for their team-leading ninth homers of the season, while sophomores James Keithley and Michael Rockett launched their seventh and fifth long balls of the year, respectively.
The Islanders (23-25, 8-14 SLC) could muster just five hits off Ruffin in dropping their sixth game in a row, a season high.
Ruffin (6-2) struck out six and won for the fourth time in his last five outings. During that time, he has posted a 2.52 ERA and struck 22 in 35.2 innings of work. It was his first shutout of the season and it extended his UTSA career record to five.
UTSA staked Ruffin to a 4-0 lead with a four-spot in the second and stretched the lead to nine with a five-run fifth, an inning that was highlighted by three bombs. Keithley got things started with a towering shot to left and, after a walk to senior Mitch Ponza and a double by Rockett, Lockwood and Saltzgaber hit back-to-back homers to give the Roadrunners an insurmountable 9-0 advantage.
UTSA tacked on three more runs the following frame to go into double digits for the 10th time in its 22 league contests this year and the 14th time this season overall.
Nine of the Roadrunners' 13 hits on the night went for extra bases.
Keithley was 3-for-4 with a double and three RBIs and Rockett matched him with three base hits and drove home a pair. Lockwood was 2-for-4 with a two-bagger and three RBIs and his last nine hits have gone for extra bases. Saltzgaber added a pair of safeties, including a double, and he has 16 multi-hit efforts in his last 26 outings.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi starter Will Norman (4-7) allowed eight runs on seven hits and walked four in four-plus innings.
The series continues at 2 p.m. on Saturday. Junior right-hander Bradley Chovanec (2-4, 4.95 ERA) will oppose righty Matt Wilson (6-3, 3.69).