SAN ANTONIO — Michael Chamberlain’s 13th-inning two-run homer sent Houston Baptist to its fourth consecutive victory to open the season, 9-7, on Tuesday night at Roadrunner Field.
Coming off a sweep of Saint Peter’s in the season’s-opening weekend, UTSA (3-1) stayed hot at the plate from the outset with three runs in the first inning. C.J. Pickering and Horacio Correa III laced back-to-back RBI singles and Mike Warren added a run-scoring groundout.
The Huskies (4-0) got an RBI single in the second inning off the bat of Samm Wiggins and a sacrifice fly from Austin Saenz, who left the game an inning later after crashing into the right field wall, to narrow the UTSA lead to 3-2.
John Welborn continued his torrid start at the plate in the home half of the second with a double that skirted just inside the third-base line to plate Grant Gibbs from third. Two batters later, Tony Ramirez extend the Roadrunners lead to 5-2 by bringing Welborn home from third with a single to left.
After two scoreless innings, Houston Baptist capitalized on a UTSA defensive miscue for five runs, four of which were unearned.
The Huskies got started when Charles Clay scored all the way from second base on a wild pitch that glanced off the left knee of catcher Mitchell Matulia and into the Roadrunners third base dugout. With runners on first and second, Zach Nehrir hit a chopper back to the mound that pitcher Logan Onda fielded cleanly, but his throw to second base sailed left of the bag and into left center field, which allowed another run to score. The Huskies scored three more unearned runs in the inning on doubles from Josh Martinez and Austin McCoy to take a 7-5 lead.
Jesse Baker’s RBI double down the left field in the sixth inning cut the Houston Baptist lead in half and Mike Warren tied the game an inning later with a solo home run to left center.
Following Warren’s home run, the bullpens for each team took over. Each team used six pitchers in the contest and they combined to hold the opposing offenses scoreless from the eighth until Chamberlain’s 13th-inning blast.
Warren led four Roadrunners with at least three hits by going 3-for-6 with two RBIs and a stolen base.
UTSA will hit the road for the first time this spring when it travels to Corpus Christi for this weekend's Kleberg Bank College Classic. The Roadrunners will open tournament play at 6 p.m. on Friday against event host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (2-3).