ARLINGTON — An 11th inning sacrifice fly by Jesse Payne with one out brought home Ryan Walker with the winning run and UT Arlington won Sunday's rubber game against UTSA, 2-1, at Clay Gould Ballpark.
The Mavericks improved to 12-8 overall and 4-2 in Southland Conference play, while the Roadrunners saw their season ledger drop to 7-15 (1-5 SLC).
Walker reached first base after an error by junior Casey Selsor to lead off the deciding frame. Two batters later, Preston Beck singled to center off junior Cody Scott. After Scott issued an intentional walk to Chad Comer to load the bases, Payne delivered a fly ball to center, which was plenty deep enough for Walker to come home with the winning run.
That made a winner out of Adam Boydston (1-0), who tossed three scoreless innings of relief with three strikeouts.
Scott (1-4) was tagged with the loss despite giving up just one hit over the final 5.1 innings.
The game was scoreless for three-and-a-half innings before UT Arlington scored the first run in the fourth.
Freshman starter Blake Denman, who was making the first start of his young career, gave up a double to Brian Nephew and then threw back-to-back wild pitches, which allowed Newphew to score.
The Roadrunners tied the contest in the eighth when freshman Riley Good walked with the bases loaded. That brought home senior Tyler Carpenter with the tying run.
Denman surrendered just one run on four hits and fanned two in 5.1 innings of work.
Senior Ryan Hutson and junior Colby Braddock each registered a pair of hits to pace the Roadrunners at the plate.
UTSA will return to action next weekend in a three-game series at Sam Houston State (12-8, 1-5 SLC).
