| Senior Jose Hernandez went 3-for-4 with four RBIs to lead UTSA at the plate. |
LAKE CHARLES, La. ? For third third consecutive day, UTSA found itself in an early hole at McNeese State, but just as they did the previous two days, the Roadrunners rallied in the middle innings en route to a 13-11 victory on Sunday.
UTSA (29-21, 18-12 SLC) posted its 16th come-from-behind win of the season after rapping out 13 hits and taking advantage of eight walks by a quartet of Cowboys pitchers. The Birds, who recorded their third Southland Conference sweep of the season (all on the road), swept McNeese State for the third year in a row.
The Cowboys (20-29, 9-21 SLC) jumped out to an early 5-0 lead when Ryan Brauninger laced a two-RBI double with one out in the first and Lee Orr hit a towering three-run home run, his team-leading 15th of the year, over the scoreboard in left three batters later.
The Roadrunners responded with a two-spot in second when junior Lance Brown drew a free pass with two outs and sophomore Ryan Hutson followed with a deep fly ball to center that one hopped the wall and the Cowboys were slow getting the ball back to the infield. The Round Rock native took advantage of the mistake and circled the bases for an inside-the-park home run, giving him nine homers in the last 11 contests, and he took over the team lead with 14.
UTSA grabbed its first lead of the day with a five-run fifth.
Junior Ryan Rummel led off the frame with a walk and freshman Casey Selsor followed with a two-run long ball to left center to pull the Birds within one. Consecutive run-scoring singles by seniors Jose Hernandez and Michael Rockett gave the Roadrunners the lead and Brown's sacrifice fly to center ended the scoring.
Brauninger launched a homer to left to lead off the bottom of the inning to pull the Cowboys within one at 7-6, but UTSA pushed across four more runs across the plate in the sixth to regain its five-run cushion.
Hernandez started the scoring when he stroked a two-RBI double to left with two down. The Roadrunners' left fielder came home one batter later when he took off for third on a 2-2 pitch that Rockett swung through, but Taylor Freeman was unable to hold on to the offering and that allowed Hernandez to cross the plate. Brown added a run-scoring safety two hitters later that plated Rockett with the final run of the frame.
However, McNeese rallied yet again when the first five hitters of the bottom of the inning reached base against UTSA southpaw reliever Andy Benedict, four of which came home, and that brought the Pokes within one yet again at 11-10.
UTSA went on to add two insurance runs in the seventh to go up three, but McNeese scored quickly the next frame. Jace Peterson hit a leadoff triple and Nick Eubanks followed with an RBI grounder to third. The Cowboys went on to put the tying runners on base, but sophomore righty Kevin Clarke fanned Sam Merrill to end the threat.
Roadrunners right-handed starter Ryan Proudfoot (2-1) picked up his 13th career victory and moved into 10th place on the program's all-time chart. The Lindale native gave up six runs (two earned) on a half dozen hits, walked four and struck out two in his five panels of work. Clarke, meanwhile, collected the first save of his career after tossing the final four innings. The Huntsville native surrendered a run on four hits and fanned four.
McNeese starter Jonathan Conrad (2-6) was saddled with the loss after allowing seven runs on six hits and four walks in four-plus innings.
Hernandez went 3-for-4 with a double and four RBIs, while Rockett extended his hitting streak to 15 games. Hutson finished the three-game set with a .638 batting average (9-for-13) with six runs, a double, four long balls and 10 RBIs, as UTSA scored 48 runs on 49 hits, including a dozen home runs, and reached base at a .476 clip in the series.
Brauninger was 2-for-5 with three RBIs and Jace Peterson added three hits for the Cowboys.
The Birds will play their final non-conference game of the regular season on Tuesday when they head up to the Metroplex to take on Dallas Baptist (35-14). The final game of UTSA's current four-game road trip is slated for 3 p.m. and it can be heard live on goUTSA.com beginning with the Sherman Corbett pregame show 15 minutes prior to first pitch.