| Senior Michael Rockett hit his sixth home run of the year on Tuesday night. |
MANHATTAN, Kan. ? No. 26 Kansas State used three home runs to power its way past UTSA on Tuesday night, 5-4, in front of 1,074 fans at Tointon Stadium.
The Wildcats improved to 16-3 with their fifth win in a row (12 of 13 overall), while the Roadrunners lost for the fourth time in their last half dozen contests to drop to 10-7.
Kansas State took an early 1-0 lead in the first when Carter Jurica launched a solo homer, his second of the year, over the left-field wall with one out.
The Roadrunners then rallied for a three-spot in the fourth to take their first lead of the night.
Senior left fielder Jose Hernandez doubled to left to lead off the frame and senior designated hitter Aaron Powell followed with a base hit to right to plate Hernandez. After junior catcher Ryan Rummel moved Powell to second with a sacrifice bunt, freshman first baseman Matthew James launched the first long ball of his career to dead center field to give UTSA a 3-1 advantage.
K-State responded with a pair in its half of the frame, both of which scored on Drew Biery's third homer of the year, which came with one down.
The Wildcats reclaimed the lead one inning later on Jurica's sacrifice fly to deep center and they added an insurance run in the sixth on Justin Bloxom's solo shot to lead off the frame. It was his fourth homer of the year.
Senior All-America center fielder Michael Rockett pulled UTSA within one in the seventh with his sixth bomb of the season, but that would be the closest the Roadrunners would get the rest of the night.
Right-hander Matt Applegate (1-1) picked up the win in relief of left-handed starter Kyle Hunter after tossing 1.2 scoreless innings. Righty James Allen picked up his third save of the year with a perfect ninth.
Freshman southpaw Casey Selsor (3-1), who made his first collegiate start, lost for the first time this spring. The San Antonio native gave up four runs on seven hits and walked one in 4.1 innings.
Hernandez was 2-for-2 with two walks and senior shortstop Marshal Davis and junior third baseman Lance Brown added a pair of hits apiece. Sophomore right fielder Tyler Carpenter went 0-for-5 and his career-long hitting streak ended at 17 games.
Biery and Jurica both had two hits and a pair of RBIs to lead the Wildcats at the plate.
The series concludes at noon on Wednesday when freshman lefty Marc Gomez (1-0, 6.55 ERA) goes against right-hander Ryan Daniel (1-0, 3.92).