| Senior All-American Michael Rockett set a new program record with the 55th double of his career on Wednesday night. |
SAN ANTONIO ? Chris Wallace led an 18-hit offensive onslaught by going for 4-for-5 with a double, two home runs and a career-high six RBIs and Houston sent UTSA to its fourth loss in a row with a 14-7 victory on Wednesday night at Roadrunner Field.
The Cougars won their third consecutive game to improve to 10-17, while the Roadrunners will enter
this weekend's series at Stephen F. Austin at 15-12 overall and 7-5 in
Southland Conference play.
Wallace, who was playing for the first time since March 1 due to injury, hit a three-run homer as part of a five-run first and he went on to single in the fifth, launch a two-run long ball an inning later, walk in the eighth and double in the final frame.
Down by five entering the third, the Birds got an RBI single from senior All-America center fielder Michael Rockett with one out and senior left fielder Jose Hernandez followed with a two-run double down the left-field line to pull UTSA within two. Junior third baseman Lance Brown stroked a run-scoring base hit to left to complete the four-run stanza and the Roadrunners were back within striking distance.
However, UH responded with a single run in the fourth, three more an inning later and a pair in the sixth to extend the advantage to 11-4 and it never looked back.
An RBI ground out to first off the bat of freshman first baseman Casey Selsor following the seventh-inning stretch pushed across UTSA's fifth tally of the night and Hernandez' second two-run double of the night in the following panel got the Roadrunners within four at 11-7, but the Cougars slammed the door with three runs in the ninth off Selsor and headed back to the Bayou City with a seven-run victory.
Senior left-hander Andy Benedict (1-1), making his first start of the season, allowed a half dozen runs (five earned) on seven hits and walked three in his 3.2 innings.
Meanwhile, Williams Kankel (1-1), who started the contest as Houston's designated hitter, came out of the bullpen to toss 2.2 scoreless frames to earn the victory.
Hernandez was 2-for-3 with two doubles, four RBIs and a pair of walks and Brown had three hits to lead the Roadrunners offense. Rockett was 2-for-5 to extend his hitting streak to a dozen games and his eighth-inning double was the 55th of his career and it established a new program record (previous: 54, Jeff Juarez, 1996-99). The Sugar Land native now has set three all-time records this season (at-bats, hits, doubles).
The Cougars avenged a 14-8 loss to UTSA that occurred on March 4 in Houston.
The Roadrunners and Lumberjacks (10-16, 3-8 SLC) begin their three-game series at 3 p.m. on Friday at Jaycees Field in Nacogdoches. Junior right-hander Red Patterson (2-2, 5.70 ERA) will get the nod in the opener.