| Junior Tyler Carpenter's first-inning double on Friday night extended his hitting streak to 13 games. |
NATCHITOCHES, La. — Luke Irvine allowed just two hits while striking out nine over seven shutout innings and Northwestern State coasted to an easy 10-0 victory against UTSA on Friday night at Brown-Stroud Field. The game was called with one down in the eighth due to the Southland Conference's 10-run rule.
The Demons (23-10, 10-5 SLC) won their fourth contest in a row and for the seventh time in the last 10 tilts overall. Meanwhile, the Roadrunners (13-19, 4-12 SLC) lost for the 12th time in their last 16 outings.
Irvine (4-2) gave up a double to junior Tyler Carpenter to start the game and then promptly retired 16 of the following 18 Roadrunners he faced. The only other hit he allowed was a one-out bunt single by freshman Daniel Rockett in the sixth and the right-hander struck out eight of 14 hitters he faced over his final four frames of work.
Irvine got all the run support he needed in the second when Justin Martinez led off the inning with home run to left center and Chase Lyles later delivered a two-out single to right.
The Demons added two more a frame later and pairs in the fifth, seventh and eighth innings, which was more than enough on the unseasonably warm, 83-degree night.
Sophomore lefty Casey Selsor (4-4) was charged with the loss after giving up six runs (five earned) on a dozen hits in his 4.1 panels of work.
Adam Roy led Northwestern State's 18-hit offensive attack by going 3-for-4 with his second homer of the season and four RBIs. Eric DeBlanc and Oscar Garcia added three hits apiece, as all nine starters on offense reached base by hit or walk and seven had two or more safeties.
Carpenter's sixth two-bagger of the year pushed his season-long hitting streak to 13 games.
The series continues at 2 p.m. on Saturday.