SAN ANTONIO — UTSA scored eight unanswered runs in its final four at-bats and the Roadrunners pulled away for a 9-2 victory against Air Force in the season opener for both teams on Friday night at Roadrunner Field. The win also marked the first for Jason Marshall, who was making his head coaching debut.
UTSA (1-0) scored the go-ahead run in the sixth inning when John Bormann pulled off a successful attempted steal and stop between first and second base. The Falcons (0-1) went for the tag on Bormann and, after the second throw of the rundown, RJ Perucki took home to give the Birds a 3-2 lead.
The Roadrunners scored four more times in the seventh and a pair in the eighth to put the contest out of reach.
Jordan Pacheco (1-0) hurled 3.1 scoreless innings of relief and struck out two to pick up the victory.
Meanwhile, Daniel Rockett and Tony Ramirez paced UTSA's 16-hit attack, which included 15 singles.
Rockett was 4-for-5 with an RBI, while Ramirez went 3-for-5 with a double and a pair of RBIs in his first game as a Roadrunner.
UTSA took a 1-0 lead in the home half of the first on Ramirez's RBI single.
Air Force grabbed the lead with a two-run fifth after Roadrunners second baseman Jesse Baker dropped back-to-back fly balls in shallow right field.
However, the Birds took over the momentum in the bottom of the stanza when Rockett's single into left field drove in Riley Good from second base to tie the game.
Michael Kraft started on the mound for UTSA and allowed two unearned runs on four hits and struck out four in 4.2 innings before giving way to Pacheco.
Cameron White (0-1) was saddled with the loss after yielding five runs (four earned) on nine hits in 6.1 panels.
The season-opening four-game set continues on Saturday with a 2 p.m. doubleheader.