SAN ANTONIO — UTSA swept Saturday's home doubleheader from Sam Houston State by scores of 3-2 and 7-4.
Megan Low went 2-for-2 with a run scored and was intentionally walked five times on the day, including a school-record-tying four in the nightcap. Meanwhile, Courtney Buchman went a combined 3-for-7 with three RBIs and Haylee Staton recorded a win and a save for the Roadrunners (11-8).
Hilary Adams went 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs to pace the Bearkats (8-12).
UTSA starter Alyssa Vordenbaum did not allow a hit until the third inning in the opener, but she ran into trouble in the fourth.
Following a leadoff single by Tori Benavidez, Adams put the visitors in front with her sixth homer of the season. The blast to right was her second in as many games, but it proved to be the only runs for Sam Houston State the rest of the way.
It took just two batters for Roadrunners to cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the panel.
Low opened the stanza with a double to right center and scored on Jolene Graham’s single to left center. UTSA put runners on first and second with one out, but the Bearkats turned a double play to end the threat.
However, the Roadrunners came back in the fifth and grabbed the lead for good on Buchman’s two-run single to left.
Sam Houston State starter Meme Quinn (1-2) walked lead-off hitter Paige Hamilton before allowing a single to Alexis Ramirez. Darian Blake put down a sacrifice bunt and the pair scored on Buchman’s hit. The Birds had a chance to add to the lead with runners on first and second with one out, but Graham lined into a double play to end the inning.
A single to left and a sacrifice bunt ended Vordenbaum’s day and Staton earned her first save of the campaign by retiring all five batters she faced.
Vordenbaum (3-3) went 5.1 innings and surrendered two runs on five hits. The Pasadena native walked a pair and added two strikeouts to her line.
Sam Houston State jumped on top early in the second game, scoring three unearned runs on RBI hits by Cecilia and Tiffany Castillo.
However, UTSA got those runs back and scored four unearned runs of its own in the second and did not trail again.
Buchman and Siera Sproul singled to start the inning, but the Bearkats got a pair of outs on back-to-back fielder’s choices. Hamilton followed with a four-pitch walk to load the bases for Ramirez. The San Marcos, Calif., native grounded back to Haley Baros in the circle, but her throw to first was in the dirt and got by Kim Damian, which allowed all three runners to cross the plate and the speedy Ramirez ended up at third. Blake then reached on an infield single to plate Ramirez for a 4-3 lead.
The advantage grew by a run an inning later when Sproul connected on her second long ball of the season. The Liberty Hill native took reliever Shelby Lancaster’s second pitch of the at-bat over the wall in left and the score held until the sixth.
That’s when UTSA tacked on a pair of runs with an RBI double to right center from Samantha Beeson and an infield hit by Buchman for a 7-3 lead.
The Bearkats got one run back in the seventh, but Staton got Cecilia Castillo to fly out and end the game.
Staton, who relieved Graham in the second, improved to 6-2 after giving up just one run on two hits and a walk to go along with three strikeouts.
Baros (1-7) gave up four unearned runs in her 1.2 frames.
UTSA will return to the diamond on Wednesday, March 6, when it travels to Houston Baptist (4-3) for a 2 p.m. doubleheader.