| Sophomore Rachel Rackley hit a pair of homers on Sunday. |
LAKE CHARLES, La. ? Sophomore Rachel Rackley went 2-for-4 with two home runs, but it was not enough as UTSA dropped game three of a Southland Conference series at McNeese State, 10-4, on Sunday afternoon at Cowgirl Diamond.
The loss dropped UTSA to 26-29 overall and 18-12 in the conference. The Cowgirls improved to 30-30 and 16-11. UTSA will be the No. 4-seed for the double-elimination SLC Tournament and will face No. 3 Texas State at 4 p.m. on Thursday, May 10, in Huntsville.
The Roadrunners hit four home runs on the afternoon, giving them 12 for the weekend. Senior Catherine Garza hit her eighth and sophomore Leanne Risberg launched her 15th as UTSA now has a league-leading 72 on the year.
The Cowgirls jumped out to an early 3-0 lead after one inning. Jenny Clay had an RBI single and Megan Beard added a two-run double for the damage in the first frame.
UTSA got a run back on Rackley’s first homer in the top of the second, but McNeese added three more in the bottom of the frame on an RBI double by Clay and a run-scoring single by Jana Jones.
Solo shots by Risberg in the third and Garza in the fourth pulled UTSA back to within 6-3.
Clay added to her RBI total with single in the fourth and Rackley hit her second long ball in the top of the fifth to make it 7-4, but McNeese plated three in the sixth to break the game open, two runs scoring on a Jones base hit.
Rachel Hodlik (12-7) earned the win behind seven strikeouts. Junior Amanda Nikolenko (14-17) took the loss, allowing six runs on five hits in three innings.