SAN ANTONIO — Jesse Baker's two-run single in the sixth inning broke a 3-3 tie and UTSA held on for a 5-3 victory against Baylor on Tuesday night at Wolff Stadium.
The Roadrunners (15-10) relied on their bullpen to uphold the lead following Baker's go-ahead hit.
Wesley Cox and Matt Sims shut the door, though the Bears (11-14) tried to break through in their final two at-bats.
Baylor put two on against Cox in the eighth with two outs before Sims entered the contest. The right-hander issued a walk to Adam Toth to load the bases, but he needed just three pitches to strike out Logan Brown swinging.
The Bears threatened one final time in the ninth.
Sims fanned Lawton Langford before issuing a walk to Nathan Orf and Cal Towey then singled to left. Duncan Wendel coaxed a walk to load the bases, but Sims struck out Nate Goodwin on three consecutive pitches and West Tunnell grounded out to Horacio Correa III to end the contest.
Jordan Pacheco (6-0) picked up the win for UTSA in relief. He pitched the top of the sixth inning and walked a batter before the Roadrunners plated two in the bottom of the stanza. Meanwhile, Sims picked up his third save of the campaign with 1.1 scoreless innings of work. He allowed a hit, walked three and struck out three.
UTSA received an early offensive boost from center fielder Daniel Rockett.
Rockett deposited the second pitch from Baylor starting pitcher Sterling Wynn over the left-field wall for his fourth home run of the season to start the scoring for the Birds. Two batters later, RJ Perucki singled through the left side and Mike Warren laced a double down the third-base line. Tony Ramirez then grounded a single through the right side, which plated both Perucki and Warren and gave the Roadrunners an early 3-0 lead.
UTSA starting pitcher Nolan Trabanino held the Bears scoreless until the fifth.
The left-hander had retired seven consecutive batters before issuing a one-out walk to Jake Miller. After Brown reached on a bunt single and Langford drew a walk to load the bases, Orf also laid down a bunt single that pushed Miller across the plate and cut the Birds' lead to two.
An inning later, the Bears chased Trabanino from the contest following Grayson Porter's run-scoring double. Baylor picked up another run on Doe's RBI ground out to pull even.
However, Warren led off the decisive stanza with a double and Ramirez drew a walk. John Bormann then laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance both runners into scoring position before Riley Good was intentionally walked. Baker then stepped to the plate and chopped a 1-1 pitch through the left side of the infield to plate both Warren and Ramirez.
Rockett and Warren posted two hits apiece for UTSA, which collected 10 knocks on the night. Baker and Ramirez each tallied a hit and drove in a pair of runs.
The Bears posted 10 hits but stranded 13 runners. Orf and Porter each were 2-for-4 with an RBI.
Sean Spicer (1-2) was handed the loss after allowing two runs on three hits in just two-thirds of a frame.
UTSA will return to action on Thursday night when it begins a three-game Western Athletic Conference series with San Jose State (7-18, 1-2 WAC) at Roadrunner Field.