SAN ANTONIO — Brock Hartson allowed two runs and four hits over eight-plus innings and UTSA posted a come-from-behind 7-2 victory over Sacramento State in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) series opener on Friday night at Roadrunner Field.
Hartson, who improved to 5-4 on the season, gave up two runs to the Hornets (21-16, 7-6 WAC) in the first four frames, but he and Matt Sims combined to shut out the visitors in the final five panels.
The Roadrunners (20-17, 5-7 WAC) backed up the right-hander, who struck out three and walked three, by scoring seven unanswered runs in their final five at-bats.
UTSA tied the game with John Welborn's sacrifice fly in the fourth, which chased home Riley Good who doubled to lead off the stanza.
A frame later, Horacio Correa III recorded a leadoff double and later scored on John Bormann's sacrifice fly to give the Birds a 3-2 advantage.
The Roadrunners tacked on one more in the seventh on Correa III's RBI single and capped the scoring with three in the eighth, including a pair on RJ Perucki's single with two outs.
Good paced UTSA's 11-hit attack with a 3-for-4 performance which included a double, while Welborn was 1-for-2 with two RBIs and extended his hitting streak to 15 games. Tony Ramirez went 1-for-3 with a solo homer in the fourth inning.
Justin Higley was 1-for-4 with a solo home run to pace Sacramento State.
Ty Nichols (4-4) was handed the loss after allowing three runs on five hits over six innings of work. The right-hander also walked two and struck out five.
The set continues at 2 p.m. Saturday. UTSA will send right-hander Jordan Pacheco (7-1, 4.41 ERA) to the mound, while Sacramento State is scheduled to start right-hander Brennan Leitao (4-2, 3.19 ERA).